


Time Out

by sublime42



Series: Daredevil Ageplay [5]
Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Ageplay, Angst, Bathing, Crying, Diapers, Hand-feeding, Happily Ever After, Little!Matt, Non-Sexual Age Play, Probably ooc, bed wetting, dad!foggy, matt whump, mom!karen, sick!Matt, thumbsucking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-12-17 11:05:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 25,679
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11850279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sublime42/pseuds/sublime42
Summary: ((RE-POSTED))To help cope with the stresses of his life, Matt's friends devise a way for him to take some "time out" for a bit.Non-sexual age play (cuddling, co-sleeping, bathing, feeding, see other tags). Set after 1x12, where Matt cries on Karen's shoulder after realizing that he needs his friends in his life.Note that I did not write Claire into this. I'm pretending that she does not exist.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I've managed to get my security issues under control so I am re-posting this. It was previously posted in May of 2015 under my screen name.

They'd only done it twice so far, but each time it felt natural.

At least to Foggy and Karen, it did. Matt, on the other hand, was easing into it more slowly. Now, though, it was starting to come together. Matt had finally begun to trust his caretakers and in doing so had become much more relaxed.

'I need this,' he told himself, as he sat with his back against Foggy. The other man was sitting on the floor leaning up against the couch. Matt sat between his legs and tried not to sigh as Foggy idly ran his fingers through Matt's hair.

"One day, the princess discovered a small shop, tucked in an alleyway within the market," Karen read.

She was on her second story of the afternoon. Matt could tell that she was sitting across from him, only a few feet off.

He closed his eyes as he listened to her voice. The combination of it, the slow and steady beating of Foggy's heart and the warmth emanating from Foggy's body was making him tired.

Karen was saying something about Princess Lily finding a magical potion at the shop when Matt stifled a yawn. Seconds later, he could hear Karen put the book down.

"Tired, Matty?" Foggy asked, speaking the same question that Karen was thinking.

Matt smirked at the nickname Foggy used. He had come up with it during the first time they'd done this and somehow it stuck.

"I'm okay," he answered, but not before yawning again.

He could feel Foggy shift and hear Karen move. She was on her knees, now. This was all part of it- the three of them knew that.

"I think you're tired," Karen said, and Matt could hear the smile in her voice. "Foggy and I will take you to bed."

"I'm fine," Matt protested again.

He felt Foggy's hand rub his back.

"You've been fighting to stay awake for the past half hour. Come on, now. We'll stay with you."

Matt thought this over.

"Mmmm. Okay."

Foggy and Karen helped Matt to his feet. Matt could do it himself, but he liked the extra attention. It was nice not to have to think past whether or not he wanted to sleep or what story would be read.

Karen took Matt's hands and led him towards the bedroom. Foggy followed close behind. Matt did not put up a fight when Karen sat him down on the bed.

She and Foggy were going to help him into his PJs, soon. Matt could hear his dresser being opened and clothes being moved around.

She had settled on the blue, silk pair of pajamas. Matt could tell by the sound that the garment made as Karen removed it. It was his favorite set.

"Help him?" Karen asked Foggy.

Foggy nodded and began the process of removing Matt's clothing. He was wearing a simple baggy t-shirt and jeans. Karen and Foggy had been pressing for him to try some more childish, comfortable clothing, but Matt wasn't quite ready for that yet.

Quietly, he allowed Foggy to pull his shirt off. He heard it swoosh through the air as it was tossed into the hamper. The jeans came next. Matt wriggled a little bit to help Foggy out. Another swoosh as they were tossed.

Now he only wore his boxers and a pair of socks. Fuzzy socks. That had been one thing he'd conceded to, and he didn't regret it. They felt soft and warm.

"Here we go," Karen whispered, as she gently began pulling on the pajamas. She buttoned up the shirt and Foggy helped with the pants.

The covers were then pulled back.

After the first time they'd done this, Karen had purchased a fluffy duvet and some extra pillows in an attempt to cozy up Matt's spartan bedroom. The blanket was warm and cozy and Matt enjoyed the feeling of it being pulled over him.

He was in the middle of the bed. He felt one side dip as Foggy crawled in next to him. Karen joined on the other side.

Instinctively, Matt turned to Foggy. Sometimes he snuggled with Karen, but Foggy was warmer and stronger. Not that that part really mattered. Logically, if push came to shove, Matt would be the one defending them. But it felt nice to pretend to be safe.

Matt lay his head on Foggy's chest, again listening to his heart beat. He felt Karen's hand running up and down his back in an attempt to calm him enough to make him sleep.

A sigh of contentment escaped Matt's lips. For the next few hours he would rest, comfortable and secure in the arms of his friends.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt gets sick and his friends take care of him, opening up a few more aspects of the little game they've been playing.

Fisk was in jail.

This should have meant that Matt, Foggy and Karen could relax. Yet this was not the case, at least for Karen and Matt.

Karen had handled sleep deprivation easily enough. While she was a little bit off some days, she managed to get by. Matt, on the other hand, wasn’t doing quite so well.

It started out with him coming into work an hour late. Since they didn’t have any clients, this wasn’t a huge deal.

Then one day, he came in closer to noon. Karen and Foggy had questioned him, asked if he was alright, but he’d pushed them away, claiming that he was fine and that he’d simply had a hard morning. He chose to leave out how awful he felt.

His head was pounding and every few minutes, his body felt like it was freezing. Then he would feel hot. There was the nausea, too.

Matt knew what was going on. He was getting sick. It was winter, after all, and his lack of rest had probably lowered his immune system.

He didn’t want to worry his friends, though. They had their own problems to deal with and their own lives to lead.

00

A day had passed and Matt found himself lying in bed with Foggy and Karen hovering over him.  
Apparently he’d collapsed sometime that morning. He didn’t remember much of it, just that he had gone into work feeling dizzy and even sicker than he had previously. He had woken up in his bed, dressed in his pajamas and covered in blankets.

Since then, Foggy and Karen had been doing everything they could to make him comfortable. Foggy had given him some tea that was apparently spiked with alcohol. It didn’t taste great but it numbed Matt enough to where he didn’t protest his friend’s actions.

“Come on. You have to eat,” Karen pressed.

She was sitting on the edge of the bed, holding a warm bowl of oatmeal. She held up a spoonful of the mush and Matt cringed.

“I don’t know if this is a good idea,” he answered, thinking back to how he’d vomited bile into the wastebasket an hour prior.

“You need to get something in your system,” Karen replied. “Something besides tea and booze,” she glared at Foggy. “This is bland. It should stay down.”

Matt took a deep breath, hoping that Karen was right. He opened his mouth and allowed Karen to feed him.

It was somewhat weird. Foggy and Karen had read him stories and cuddled with him, held him while he slept. They’d even helped him undress. He’d never allowed either of them to feed him before, though.

He was too sick to dwell on that thought. He swallowed the oatmeal, mentally noting that it didn’t taste too bad. Karen held up another spoonful of it and Matt accepted it. She interspaced with with sips of Gatorade, and Matt kept eating until half the bowl was gone.

“I think I’m done,” he murmured, feeling his stomach start to protest. He willed his body to keep the food and drink down.

“That’s fine,” Karen said sweetly. “You should rest some more anyway.”

He heard her place the bowl on his nightstand. A second later, she gently helped him lie back down.

00

Foggy and Karen took turns watching Matt for the rest of the day, then throughout the course of the evening. They took shifts, one resting while the other attended to their friend's needs.  
Despite the extra care he was receiving, Matt continued to decline. He would sleep, but it wasn’t restful. Rather he would toss and turn until he woke up, covered in sweat. Within seconds he would feel bile rising in his throat. Most times, someone would shove a wastebasket into his hands. Once he’d been sick on the floor. If he weren’t feeling as terrible as he was, he would’ve felt bad about Karen having to clean up after him. His mind couldn’t process it right then.

Through it all his friends remained kind. Neither of them complained about helping him. Both seemed to be focused on trying to make him better however they could.

00

Twenty four hours after he collapsed, Matt finally slept peacefully. Foggy was in bed with him, arms wrapped around Matt as he slumbered.  
Foggy knew that he was probably going to end up getting whatever flu that Matt had, but that was okay. He usually healed pretty fast.

Matt’s head rested on Foggy’s chest, and Foggy listened to him snore lightly. Heat still emanated from Matt’s body. The last they’d checked, his fever was at 101. Foggy knew that it still hadn’t broken.

Foggy moved to check his watch, doing his best not to jostle Matt at all, but it was in vain. Matt began to wake. Well, at least he’d gotten four hours of sleep.

As soon as Matt sat up, Foggy jumped out of the bed and grabbed the wastebasket, expecting Matt to be sick again. Thankfully, this time, he wasn’t.

“You can put that down,” Matt croaked, his voice raspy from all the times that he’d been sick.

“Your stomach’s feeling better?”

“I think so.”

Foggy nodded.

“Good, I’m glad.”

“Still feel so weak, though…” Matt laid back down, pulling the blankets over himself once again.

Foggy frowned and reached for the thermometer.

“Open up, Matty,” he whispered.

Matt reluctantly opened his mouth and let Foggy place the thermometer inside.

Soon enough, he had a reading.

“102.4. Your temperature went up.”

“I know,” Matt mumbled, curling into his pillow even more. He felt like he’d been hit by a truck and dragged for several miles. Everything hurt.

Foggy sighed.

“If it gets to 103 we’re going to have to take some more drastic steps.”

Foggy expected Matt to protest this - the man hated hospitals - but he didn’t. Rather, Matt was asleep once again.

00

Three hours later, Foggy and Karen found themselves in the unusual position of trying to maneuver Matt into into the bathtub.  
His fever had hit 103, and he’d adamantly refused going to the hospital, so there they were, trying to drag him into the cold water.

Matt wasn’t coherent. All he understood was the word “hospital” and the idea that Foggy and Karen wanted to take him to one. The thought of being plunged into ice cold water was almost equally unappealing, though, and he fought them with the little strength that he had.

“He must be really far gone,” Foggy remarked.

He and Karen had managed to catch Matt the few times that he’d attempted to get out of their grasp. Now, Foggy was holding Matt down on the closed toilet as Karen began to undress him.

“Ugh,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “He would need a bath even if he didn’t have a fever.”

Karen was right. Matt reeked of BO and vomit. Foggy briefly wondered if Matt realized it, what with extraordinary senses.

“Yeah, well, let’s get him in.”

Karen pulled down Matt’s pajama pants and boxers, blushing as she removed them. Hopefully Matt wouldn't be too angry when he recovered.

“Here we go,” Foggy said, as he lifted Matt up.

Matt tried to hit him. When that failed, he tried to kick Foggy’s leg, but he missed. Everything was so blurry, and he felt so dizzy and sick…

Then he felt cold. Really fucking cold.

“Agh!” Matt nearly jumped out of the bathtub. Foggy held him down.

“Calm down. You have a high fever,” Karen explained, “You need to cool off. Since you won’t go to a hospital, this will have to do.”

Karen’s words must have gotten through because Matt suddenly dropped his defenses. He wrapped his arms around his chest, shivering. Karen frowned.

“I know, it’s really cold, but you need to cool down,” she said again, softly. She rested a hand on his back, “It’s going to be okay. You just need to stay for a little longer. We’re going to help you clean up, too. So when you go back to bed you’ll feel a little better.”

Matt said nothing, but continued to shiver.

“You want to take over?” Karen asked.

Foggy was stronger and could probably keep Matt in line if he tried anything.

“Yeah, sure. Go change the sheets?”

“Yeah.”

Matt heard the bathroom door open and close as Karen stepped out.

00

“Almost done,” Foggy told him, as he dumped another cup of water over Matt’s head.  
He had just finished shampooing Matt’s hair. He had helped Matt wash up as best he could, leaving Matt to do his private area. Washing his hair was the final touch. Matt definitely smelled much better now, and he felt slightly cooler.

“Okay,” Foggy said. “Let’s get you up. Karen probably has the bed made up for you now, and you can go lie down and she’ll probably tell you a story, too, if you want.”

“Mmm,” Matt sighed. He wanted to sleep, but the idea of Karen telling him a story was appealing. Somehow she always managed to comfort him even if it was just by reading to him.

“Right. Okay.” Foggy reached under Matt’s arms and lifted him to his feet, splashing himself with water in the process. Matt still seemed out of it albeit slightly more lucid.

Once Matt was standing, Foggy reached for a towel, choosing a large fluffy one. He wrapped it around Matt’s waist, tying it in a knot, then used another one to dry off Matt’s hair. When he finished, he wrapped the second towel around Matt’s shoulders and walked him out of the bathroom.

00

"Matt," Karen greeted him, as he and Foggy entered the bedroom.

Matt didn't respond. He continued walking towards the bed, threw off the towels and climbed in. After he had made himself comfortable, he turned to face Karen’s general direction.

"Story?"

"Ah. You want me to read one?" Karen looked at Foggy, who nodded 'yes'.

"Hmm. How about I'll read you one if you let us take your temperature and you take some Tylenol. Is that a fair deal?"

Matt pouted and Karen had to admit that it was adorable.

"Is it a deal, Matty? I'll read any story that you want."

"Okay."

Karen smiled and held out her hand, accepting the thermometer from Foggy.

"102. Down quite a bit but still high. Alright, let’s get you some meds… hopefully you can keep it down, since you haven’t been sick in a while.” Karen took out two pills from the pill bottle she’d been keeping on the nightstand for when Matt stopped vomiting.

“Open your mouth again.”

Matt sighed in a seemingly childish, annoyed way, but he did as he was told and allowed Karen to place medicine in his mouth.

“Take a sip,” Karen told him, holding a glass of water to his lips.

Matt again followed her instructions.

“Good job. Now for the story. Which one do you want to hear?”

“Wizard of Oz.”

“Alright,” Karen said, standing up. She headed towards the box where the books were kept and made a mental note to ask Foggy to install a small shelf. When she returned, she sat down on the side of the bed and opened the book up to where she left off last time.

00

Matt rested more comfortably for the rest of the day. Foggy and Karen had stayed near him in bed, holding him. By the following morning, Matt’s temperature was almost back to normal and he was generally coherent. Still, his friends wouldn’t let him out of bed just yet.

“You can go back to work tomorrow,” Foggy told him.

Matt attempted to protest, but Karen cut him off.

“If you go out today and relapse then all of our efforts were in vain. Do you want that? Because Foggy and I don’t want that.”

The tone of Karen’s voice and the sound of Karen’s heartbeat told Matt that she was being truthful; she and Foggy really would be annoyed if he relapsed after all they had done.

“Thought so,” Karen said, when Matt didn’t respond. “Now. I made you some toast with a little bit of butter and honey on it, and some tea. Be a good boy and let me feed it to you?”

Matt considered refusing, but recalled that Karen had done this before. Hell, she’d seen him naked before. Foggy had helped bathe him! And it wasn’t really that bad, oddly enough. Maybe being sick had given him the push he needed to edge a little farther into the world that his friends had helped create.

Matt smiled at Karen then obediently opened his mouth. He could sense that Karen was smiling back at him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt has a little problem and it's keeping him from sleeping well.

In the weeks after Matt had recovered from his illness, Foggy and Karen noticed that he still had not regained any of the weight that he’d lost. Worse, he still seemed to be having trouble sleeping, if the number of mornings that he came in late and/or with bags under his eyes was anything to go by.

At first, Foggy and Karen were reluctant to step in, but as the weeks wore on they felt that they had to. Matt seemed more run down every day and it was only a matter of time before he became ill again.

So, the first weekend of February was blocked out as “Matty Time”. Foggy and Karen would turn off their phones and spend two days doing whatever it took to help Matt relax.

00

“You really don’t have to do this,” Matt said, that Friday night.

Karen and Foggy had shown up with several bags full of supplies, obviously intending to stay.

“Yeah, we kinda do,” Foggy replied. “Besides, it’s kinda calming for us, too. Right, Karen?”

“Oh, absolutely. I focus on you and forget about…You know, all of life’s problems,” she forced a smile. She still had yet to tell Matt or Foggy about what had happened with Wesley.

Matt sighed.

“If you’re sure.”

“We’re sure.”

Matt held open the door.

“Come on in, then.”

00

Matt could hear Foggy and Karen unpacking several items from their bags. Some seemed to be cloth - probably their clothes for the weekend. Others sounded harder. Matt concluded that they were possibly books.  
“Okay, first order of business is food,” Karen announced. “Since it’s your weekend, we can have whatever you want. What are you in the mood for?”

“I’m not really hungry, but by all means feel free to make something for yourselves. Or you can order in, if you want.”

Now it was Karen’s turn to sigh.

“Are you going to go along with this or not? You need this, Matty. You always seem so much more relaxed after we do this.”

Matt frowned. He knew that Karen was right. He ought to let his friends take care of him again. It did seem to help.

“Okay,” Matt agreed. “I mean you’re right. What can you make?” He thought he could smell some type of flour, maybe a batter mix of some type. There seemed to be some pasta, too, and some bottles containing liquid, but he wasn’t sure what type.

“We have a few things. We can make sandwiches, or pasta - I have macaroni and cheese, if you’d like that. I bought pancake mix and toaster waffles for tomorrow but I can make them tonight. Or of course we could order something.”

Matt thought his options over.

“Pancakes sound good.”

“Breakfast for dinner. See, you’re getting into being a kid already,” Foggy joked.

When Matt said nothing, Foggy continued.

“Karen bought chocolate chips and whipped cream, too.”

That brought a smile to Matt’s face.

“That sounds nice.”

“Great.” Karen picked up her bag and started re-packing the items that would be used later, keeping out the batter, chocolate chips and whipped cream. “Just give me a few minutes.”

Once Karen left the room, Foggy turned to Matt.

“We brought some books along, and a few DVDs too, and Karen’s laptop to play them on. I know you can’t see them but you could listen, if you wanted.” As he spoke, Foggy placed a hand on Matt’s shoulder. Just the mere touch relaxed the dark haired man.

“You want me to rub your back?”

“Hm?”

“You seem tense and you calmed down when I touched you. Sit on the floor and I’ll rub your back so you’re relaxed when Karen returns.”

The idea of a massage sounded good to Matt. He really did feel tense; his shoulders and neck had been hurting for days. Another one of the glorious side effects of lack of sleep. He slowly climbed off the couch and sat in front of Foggy.

Within minutes, Foggy was hard at work breaking up the muscle knots in Matt’s shoulders. For a while they sat silently, save for the occasional groan from Matt. Who knew that Foggy could be so strong?

Inside the kitchen, Karen was humming something. Matt couldn’t quite place the tune, but it was nice. He closed his eyes and started to drift off.

Just as he was on the cusp of sleep, his woke up, suddenly aware of what was going on. How long had he been out? Considering he wasn’t fully asleep, it must have only been a few minutes at most. Matt took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. Nothing had happened. Everything was okay.

00

Karen sat indian-style across from Matt on the floor. She had made enough pancakes for all of them, but was currently feeding Matt.

Matt didn’t fight it. Karen had done this before, and it wasn’t a big deal. It was kind of nice in a strange way. The only problem was the amount of food that she had made. It seemed to be far more than he could possibly eat and she kept pushing him to continue.

After four pancakes, all covered in chocolate and whipped cream, Matt finally had enough. His stomach was starting to hurt.

“Karen.” He gently pushed her hand away. “I’m full. Thank you for making these, but I’m fine for now.”

Karen sighed, but put down the plate. “Alright, you’ll just have to try to finish them later, and they won’t be as good once they’re reheated.”

She sounded annoyed. This surprised Matt.

“Why does this matter to you so much?”

He heard Foggy put his utensils down. The man was undoubtedly staring at Karen, probably hoping that she would respond. That meant that it was probably something weird.

“When you were sick you lost a lot of weight. I know you may not have noticed, but it’s clear to both Foggy and myself. We figured that if we could get you to eat a little more, maybe you could put some back on.”

“I - it’s really not that bad,” Matt replied.

Granted, he had noticed that his pants and suit jackets were a little looser, but he didn’t think it was that bad.

“I have to agree,” Foggy added. “Just now when I was rubbing your shoulders, I could feel your bones sticking out. When we left after you got sick, we could see your ribs. I doubt that’s changed. We’re just worried about your health, is all.”

Matt wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Eventually he mumbled a ‘thank you’, feeling embarrassed that his friends had noticed his decline but he really hadn’t.

“You’re welcome,” Karen answered. “I’ll go put this away and you can have it before you go to bed. For now, how about we do something fun. I can read you another story, or we can put on a DVD, if you’d like.”

“What movies do you have?”

“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Bolt, Pocahontas and The Little Mermaid.”

Matt snorted and did his best not to laugh at the last two choices.

“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, I guess. I can probably follow along with it.”

“There’s always the option of a book,” Karen reminded him.

“I’d rather do that later.”

“Okay, sure. Whatever you’d like, Matty.” Karen smiled and ruffled Matt’s hair, causing him to blush.

00

Two hours later, the movie was over. Matt had followed most of it, and had even laughed at a few of the jokes. He was beginning to get tired, though. This made him nervous, but he tried not to show it.

“What time is it?” He asked.

“Nine o’clock. I was just thinking, how about Foggy goes and draws you a nice bath, and you can have some more food, then you can go to bed?”

“I’m not really tired,” Matt lied. “But the bath sounds good. I’ll eat some more pancakes if it’ll make you happy.”

“It would.”

“Okay.”

He heard Foggy stand up.

“I’ll go get the bath ready. You guys take your time. Matt, try to finish your food. We don’t need you dying of starvation on us.”

“Because that’s really in the realm of possibilities,” he quipped.

He could almost feel Foggy and Karen glaring at him.

“...Sorry. I know you’re just trying to take care of me.”

“We are.” Karen stood up as well, “Foggy, call us when the bath is ready. I’m going to go reheat his food.”

“Will do.”

The two walked in separate directions, leaving Matt in the living room by himself.

00

Matt had finished off another three pancakes if only for Karen’s sake. He felt overly full, to a point where he was uncomfortable. Luckily, the bath helped get his mind off of it.  
Foggy had filled up the bathtub with hot water and had poured in some type of body wash or bubble bath. It left the water smelling like pears. Matt kind of liked it.

Since Foggy had bathed him previously, Matt didn’t mind him doing it again, though being entirely coherent for it was somewhat awkward.

“Just relax. I’ve seen everything before,” Foggy told him, as he helped Matt into the bathtub. Matt could do it on his own, but this was part of their game.

“Ah… Wow,” Matt stretched out his legs as he realized that the water was a perfect temperature.

“Feels good?”

“Yeah, actually.”

“Lie back. Relax for a while. When you’re ready I’ll help you wash your hair.”

Matt nodded and laid back, sighing as he did so. He didn’t want to admit it but he still often felt like crap. His body functioned, but he was thankful that he hadn’t had to do as many patrols or fight as many people as he had when Fisk was out.

After letting Matt rest for several minutes, Foggy spoke up.

“Who do you want to sleep with you tonight? I'll understand if you want Karen. It’s been me the past few times.”

Matt sat back up. He had pushed that worry out of his head but now he was concerned again.

“I’m still not tired. And besides, you guys should take the bed. I’ll take the couch.”

“Uh, much as I’d love to be in bed with Karen, this weekend is supposed to be about you.”

“I’m fine. You guys will be tired before I will, so you should take the bed.”

Matt frowned as he heard Foggy sigh.

“What part of ‘this weekend is about you don’t you understand - oh.”

Matt could feel Foggy staring at him.

“What are you hiding?”

“Nothing. I really just don’t want you to be uncomfortable. You guys have already done so much for me, it would make me feel bad if one of you woke up in pain.”

“I don’t believe you. Something’s up. That being said, since I know you best, I’ll be staying with you. Sorry. Maybe tomorrow night you can get Karen.”

“Fine, whatever, Foggy.”

The tone of Matt’s voice made Foggy roll his eyes. He was just trying to help his friend. Why couldn’t Matt just be upfront about whatever was going on?

00

After the bath Foggy dried Matt off and helped him dress in his newest pair of pajamas. These were a set of Iron Man PJs that Karen had bought because she thought they were cute. They weren’t as comfortable as the silk ones he had, but knowing that Karen was happy made it worthwhile. It wasn’t like Matt could actually see how bad they were, anyway.

“You look so adorable!” Karen gushed.

“Where did you even find these in an adult size?”

“The internet. The internet has everything.”

“Apparently it does.” Matt tried to stifle a yawn, but couldn’t.

“Okay, we’ll do a short book, then you’re going to sleep,” Karen announced.

Matt didn’t bother trying to argue with her. Karen and Foggy’s position on him resting was firm, neither one was going to change their mind about letting him sleep alone.

Foggy pulled back the blankets and Matt crawled into bed. He heard the sound of a glass clinking against his nightstand. Karen had brought something in with her besides a book. A glass of water, maybe. But he could smell tea. Odd.

“How about we read one of the chapters from ‘Fractured Fairytales'?” She suggested.

“Sure.”

“Great, but first, have some of this.”

Matt felt a glass being held to his lips. Now he could definitely smell the tea.

“I thought I’m supposed to go to sleep. Tea has caffeine.”

“It’s herbal nighttime tea. Nothing big, but it helps me sleep sometimes.”

Karen smiled as Matt took a sip of it. He mentally debated putting it down - drinking anything right before bed was usually a bad idea, but decided against it. It would raise too many red flags if he refused it, especially considering his last discussion with Foggy.

Besides, Foggy was intent on sleeping near him no matter what. Matt finished the mug, laid down and closed his eyes as Karen opened up her book.

00

Seven hours later Matt woke up.

Quickly, he took a mental inventory of everything going on.

Foggy was near him, snoring. He was resting his head on Foggy’s chest. He was wearing those pajamas that Karen had bought him and… the bed was dry. Thank God. Matt inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

His problem wasn’t so much that he couldn’t sleep but what happened when he did. For some reason, lately, he’d been having issues. Namely, a few times each week, he would wake up to find that he had wet himself during the night.

Because of this, he tried his best not to sleep. At least not for more than a few hours. Usually if he slept three hours or less, it didn’t happen. He supposed that last night he had been lucky.

After saying another thanks to God, Matt got up and got on with his morning ablutions.

00

Saturday morning consisted of breakfast - waffles with strawberries - and cartoons.

From what Matt could make out, the current cartoon was about a talking sponge and his starfish friend.

Foggy had been stunned when he learned that Matt had never heard of Spongebob before and they were currently on their fourth episode. Matt was starting to get bored. Karen sensed this.

“It’s not that cold out today. We can go take a walk and see about getting some treats from Sullivan Street,” she said, referring to the bakery down the block.

Matt shook his head, knowing that Karen wasn’t going to give up on her quest to make him gain weight anytime soon.

“You mean you’ll get me dessert from Sullivan’s,” Matt replied.

“We can all have some!” Karen answered, cheerfully.

“I wouldn’t turn down a vanilla bombolini,” Foggy said.

“Of course not. Alright, let’s go.”

Usually Karen or Foggy would take Matt’s hand to help him up. This time, however, he reached one arm out, as if expecting to be helped.

Foggy and Karen took this as a little win and eagerly pulled him to his feet.

00

The day went on and Matt had to admit that it hadn’t been all bad. It had actually been kind of nice.

At the bakery, Karen had (of course) bought Matt four different pastries. He got through two of them before Foggy (thank God for Foggy) noticed that Matt was starting to look green and suggested that they wrap everything up and spend some more time outside. Decent February days were hard to come by; it might be nice to enjoy one while they had the chance.

They spent a little bit of time in the park, talking about their plans for the spring and summer.

“We should totally take a day and go down the shore,” Foggy said. “I mean there’s so much to do! If we go to Point Pleasant there are rides and games!”

“We could build sandcastles!” Karen went on.

When both Matt and Foggy started laughing, Karen huffed.

“Well I for one like sandcastles. They’re fun to make. I always dig a moat around mine.”

“Yeah, they’re fun,” Foggy conceded. “Maybe we can help Matty make one.”

“We’ll see,” Matt replied. He could just imagine it - the three of them on a beach, building a sandcastle, and everyone nearby staring at them. Not that it would really matter, he supposed.

When a light snow started to fall, they headed back to Matt’s apartment.

By then, it was the afternoon. Matt allowed Foggy to help him change into some sweatpants and a t-shirt, and the group settled in to watch Pocahontas.

“I don’t think this is historically accurate,” Matt said, as the movie ended.

“It’s Disney. And the songs are good.”

“I’ll give you that,” Matt replied.

He was feeling tired again. Strange, since he’d actually slept the entire night. He did his best to hide it but it wasn’t long before his friends picked up on what was going on.

“Why don’t you take a nap?” Karen asked. “I’ve got a lot to do anyway. Take a nap and I’ll wake you up when dinner’s done. Then we can eat together and watch some more movies, or read.”

Matt rested a hand on his stomach.

“Any chance we can wait on the food?” He still felt full from the two other meals his friends had forced him to eat earlier.

“Hey, if you didn’t want to have to eat dessert and macaroni and cheese and pizza for each meal for a weekend you should’ve taken better care of yourself,” Foggy told him.

“Thanks for ruining the surprise,” Karen said, mocking anger.

“Yeah, okay,” Matt replied. He knew that it wasn’t worth the argument.

“Besides, this is like every kid’s dream! My mom always made me eat oatmeal for breakfast and vegetables with dinner. You got pancakes with chocolate for dinner. Enjoy it, man!”

Matt forced a smile. Yeah, really not worth arguing this one.

“You’re right. I think taking a nap sounds good.”

Within seconds he felt Foggy’s hands touch his. The man helped him up and led him to the bedroom.

“See you soon,” Foggy called out.

“I’ll wake you in a bit,” Karen replied.

00

“I’m sorry,” Karen whispered. “We were trying to help you.” She rested a hand on Matt’s stomach.

“I know,” Matt answered.

He and Karen were lying in his bed, both dressed in their pajamas. Karen had conceded to letting him wear the silk ones rather than the cute Iron Man set if only because she felt bad that she’d apparently stuffed Matt enough to cause him pain.

“Maybe I can make it up to you,” She said, turning to lie on her side.

“Uh - I'm not sure what you mean by that, but I don’t think I’m up for it and Foggy’s in the next room and he likes you so -”

Matt shut up when he felt a light slap on his arm.

“Not like that. I meant I could rub your stomach and tell you a story until you go to sleep.”

“Oh. That could work.”

Matt sighed softly as he felt Karen’s small hand gently start kneading his stomach.

“So. Stories. How about some from real life this time?”

“Sure.” Matt’s eyes were closed. He was getting tired again. He wondered if his body was making up for lost time now that he'd finally gotten some decent rest.

Karen's voice tore him away from his thoughts.

“How about… Okay. When I was a kid, I once took a three day trip across state lines and no one noticed I was missing.”

“Really?”

“Nope. My parents weren’t the best. Anyway, it started after school one day. I had a few friends in the next town over, since I lived on the border of that town. We always used to meet at the park. I was about twelve, the others were a little older. Now, this park was big, and in back of it were these railroad tracks. One day, we figured out the schedule and decided we should try to jump on.”

“So you did.”

“Mhmm. We waited until it came by at five thirty, and all four us managed to jump onto it as it passed. It was going slow. We thought it would only go a few miles and then stop…” She continued.

Matt listened to Karen’s story. He tried to imagine what she was describing - how she and her friends had accidentally ended up crossing into the boonies of Pennsylvania as the sun set, and how they’d spent the night in the box car together, taking turns staying up so they wouldn’t get caught.

Soon enough, Matt was asleep.

00

Matt woke to the sound of voices. People were whispering.  
Foggy and Karen were whispering.

“I don’t want to make him upset but maybe we can do something to… you know… help him,” Karen said.

“He was hiding something before. He didn't want to me sleep in the same bed as him, this must have been it." There was a brief pause before Foggy started again. "He’s going to be humiliated. We have to show him that we don’t think less of him. Once we prove that, he might be open to letting us help.”

It only took a second for Matt to realize what they were talking about. He could feel the wetness of his bedsheets. Knowing that Karen and Foggy now knew about it almost made Matt want to cry.

He heard Foggy whisper something else, but he couldn't make it out. His mind was too muddled to focus. Then he heard footsteps walking into the room.

“Hey,” Foggy said, using a tone that he would probably talk to a child in, “You're awake. We were just talking about you. I guess you know that we know about… well, what happened.”

Silence.

“...We just wanted you to know that it’s not a big deal and that we’re not judging you, and that we’d be happy to help you in any way we could,” Foggy continued.

Matt didn’t verbally respond, but tears began to fall down his cheeks. Foggy and Karen came to his side.

“Don’t worry, buddy,” Foggy reassured him, “We’ll figure this out. It’s not a big deal at all. I promise.”


	4. Chapter 4

“Matty.”

Matt only cried harder as he heard Foggy use that name.

Foggy sighed and looked at Karen, who in turn was looking at Matt with concern.

She gingerly sat on the edge of the bed, making sure not to sit anywhere near the wet spot. Thankfully, it was mostly confined to the middle.

“Matt, it’s okay.” She placed a hand on his knee, “Neither of us is judging you. Stuff like this happens to people all the time.”

Matt began to curl into himself, wrapping his arms around his chest. Karen stopped him and managed to pull him into a hug instead.

Matt didn’t protest. He rested his head on Karen’s shoulder and continued to cry. She rubbed his back as sobs wracked his body.

Karen had been in Matt’s place before. Not over the same issue, but she had experience with feeling so upset that she couldn’t speak. All they could do now was let Matt cry as much as he needed to. Then maybe they could have a more rational discussion.

“Maybe go get him some clothes for the day and get a bath ready,” Karen whispered to Foggy. She doubted that Matt was paying attention to what she was saying. He seemed to be wrapped up in self-pity.

Seeing Foggy nod in agreement, she returned her attention to Matt.

“Shhh. It’s okay,” She cooed, holding him a little tighter. “It’s okay. It’s not a big deal.”

Matt continued to cry for several minutes before he began to tire. He suddenly felt totally drained, as if all his energy had been zapped. He sniffled before slowly pulling back from Karen.

“I’m s-sorry,” he whispered, eyes fixed on the area where his hands were. Even if he couldn’t see her, he didn’t feel right ‘looking’ her in the eye.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for.”

“It - I must’ve gotten… must’ve ruined your clothes.”

“Clothes can be washed. I’m not upset at you.”

“It’s... It’s pathetic.”

“I’m sure there’s a reason for what’s happening and I’m sure that if we think through this logically we can figure it out. But first, you need to calm down, Matt. Take a deep breath.”

Matt began working at relaxing himself. He made an effort to listen to Karen’s heartbeat. It was steady. She wasn’t lying to him. If she had been upset, her heart would have been beating faster.

Matt tried to breathe, but his nose was stuffed. Seconds later Karen pressed a tissue to his face.

“Blow,” she instructed.

Matt blew his nose, then did it again when Karen told him to. Soon enough he could breathe normally. Well, somewhat normally.

“Good job,” Karen whispered, tossing the used tissues in the wastebasket. “Now. We have to talk about this, but first let’s get you cleaned up. Foggy picked out some clothes for you and drew you a bath. After you’re clean, we’ll have some breakfast and we’ll go through this.”

Right then, Foggy appeared in the doorway.

“Bath’s ready for ya, Matty,” Foggy called out.

Matt nodded, stood up, and slowly made his way towards the bathroom.

00

While Foggy was busy bathing Matt, Karen busied herself with changing Matt’s bedding. She removed the sheets and put them into a separate laundry bag, then looked at the mattress. There was a plastic sheet fitted around it, thankfully. Still, it would have to be cleaned or replaced as well. She wasn’t sure of Matt’s process with that, so left it, filing it mentally. If there was a plastic sheet in place, Matt had been likely dealing with this for a while.

Karen grabbed the laundry bag containing the sheets and threw her own soiled pajamas in with them. She had woken up when she’d felt something warm touching her leg, and had been quite surprised, to say the least.

Before heading down to the laundry room, she knocked on the bathroom door.

“Just going down to do some laundry,” she said, holding the bag out.

She heard Foggy moving around. He reached out and placed Matt’s pajamas in the bag as well.

‘Matt can never say that he doesn’t have good friends,’ she thought to herself.

With that in mind she made her way to the stairs. The washing machines were in the basement, she could at least start the load before Matt was dressed.

00

“So… How long has this been happening for?” Foggy asked, as he took a bite of his breakfast. After the morning’s drama, Karen had simply made toaster waffles for everyone again.

“About a week after I got sick.”

“So a little more than a month, then.”

“One month and one week.” Matt had been picking at his food, but that last statement made him put down his utensils. He really wasn’t hungry.

“And… is it like, nightmares or something? I mean I noticed you thrashing around when I slept near you, but you usually calmed down if I touched you.”

“Usually nightmares. I got them before, too, but lately it’s been… worse.”

“Are they about Fisk?” Karen asked.

“Sometimes. Sometimes they’re about the people I love… you two… getting hurt. And I’m powerless to stop it.”

Karen instinctively took hold of Matt’s hand when she saw him begin to pale.

“I can hear you both screaming, calling for help. Crying. And I can’t get to you, there’s no way I can help you.”

Matt looked like he was about to cry again. Karen squeezed his hand.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to go any further.”

Foggy was running the description through his mind. Times like this were when he wished that Karen knew about Matt’s alter-ego.

After thinking for a moment, Foggy spoke up.

“Have you tried anything to help with it? Medicine, or changing your sleeping habits?”

“No medicine, if there even is medicine for that. My sleeping habits are the reason that you’re all here in the first place. It… it usually doesn’t happen if I sleep three hours or less.” Matt blushed, then braced himself from the onslaught of yelling that he was sure would happen.

“Matt!” Karen let go of his hand, “You mean the reason you’ve been run down for the past month is because of this?”

“What would you do? This is humiliating. What, it’s not enough that I’m blind, now I have this problem too?”

Foggy snorted and chuckled, causing both Matt and Karen to turn towards him. Matt knew what he was laughing at - him using the ‘blind’ excuse, when he had so many other remarkable abilities, but Karen didn’t.

“What’s so funny?” she asked, anger in her voice. This whole thing was ridiculous and could have been prevented.

“Ah, nothing. Sorry. Just listening to you yell at him is… Nevermind. Anyway,” he addressed Matt, “Karen’s right, you shouldn’t have let it get to this point. We would’ve helped you.”

Matt’s shoulders slumped.

“I was hoping it would go away, or that I could learn to adjust.”

“To sleeping for three hours every night? Christ, Matt. Everyone needs sleep. I thought you were smarter than that!”

“Okay, stop,” Foggy said. “Stop yelling. It’s not helping. You’re making Matt more upset.”

Karen huffed and crossed her arms. Foggy was right, but she was still mad.

“Obviously what you’re doing isn’t working. I assume you’ve tried other things, like not drinking before going to bed, right?”

“...Yeah. Of course.”

“And that didn’t work.”

“It only happens some nights, not all of them. Sometimes I wake up and I’m… dry. Other nights, I’m not so lucky.”

“Okay. That’s… okay. I personally think we should try to resolve this in two ways. First, we’ll help the problem directly.”

“Does that mean -”

“They make adult diapers. Most pharmacies have them.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Why not?” Karen asked, her tone softer this time. “I mean, we’ve been doing this… thing… for a while now. It sort of fits with it. Besides, it’s not like anyone other than us would know. You can control it during the day, right?”

“Yes.”

“So then who cares? I’m not going to tell anyone nor will Foggy.”

Matt frowned.

“What’s the second approach?”

“We figure out the root of the problem. The nightmares. We try to help you sleep better, maybe calm you down before you go to bed. You seem to have less of them when one of us sleeps with you, for instance.”

“You’re not moving in here.”

“I didn’t suggest that! Just that maybe for a few nights...Maybe for a week or so, we could stay, and we could figure out what works and what doesn’t, and we can go from there.”

Matt rested his head in his hands.

“This sucks.”

“Better that we figure it out now than for you to have gotten worse. You were on the verge of getting sick again,” Karen said, “I could tell. Even now you don’t look so good.”

“I’m honestly trying my best not to vomit.”

Matt relaxed slightly we he felt Foggy’s warm hand on his back.

“Seriously, Matty. We’ll work it all out. Don’t you worry about a thing.”

00

“Okay, Matty. Now for the part I’m sure you’ll love!” Foggy said, sarcastically. “Who do you want to help you get ready for bed?”

Matt, Foggy and Karen were sitting in Matt’s bedroom. Foggy had just given Matt a bath. Now he was dressed in a soft bathrobe.

Since the morning’s angst session, Foggy and Karen had been trying to keep everything low key. The day had been spent in Matt’s apartment reading, watching television, resting and eating. Karen didn’t even pressure Matt to eat more. She didn’t want to upset him. She hoped that their efforts would make this part of the evening a little bit easier. A calm, relaxed Matty was less likely to fight them off than a stressed, angry or sad Matty.

Matt closed his eyes as he contemplated Foggy’s question. He’d been mentally preparing himself for it all day. He took a deep breath.

“You, I guess. You’ve… Well you’ve both seen… I’ve known you longer,” Matt finished.

For some reason, Matt expected Karen to be upset with him for choosing Foggy over her. It wasn’t rational - Karen never got upset over that type of thing - but he’d been feeling on edge since that morning when she’d yelled at him.

“That’s fine,” Karen said, standing up.

Matt could tell that she meant it. That made him feel better.

“I’ll go make you some of that tea. It helped you sleep, didn’t it? Or I can make something else.”

“Tea is fine,” Matt replied. “Thank you.”

Karen nodded and left the bedroom.

“She smiled at you,” Foggy told him, once she was gone. “I don’t know if you can… you know… sense that or not.”

“I couldn’t tell. Thank you.”

“Of course.”

Foggy then stood up as well and began looking the situation over. They’d have to use the bed as a changing table of sorts. Thankfully, they had an old blanket that they could use to cover it when in use.

“Alright, then. Let’s get you ready for bed.”

00

Both Foggy and Karen slept in the bed with Matt that night.

Even though he was tired, Matt couldn’t sleep. All he could think about was the diaper he was wearing.

Foggy had done a good enough job of getting him into it, despite having never done such a thing before, not even with a baby.

It wasn’t entirely uncomfortable. Foggy had bought quality merchandise. It was just that Matt could hear it.

Every time he moved, even slightly - even when he simply breathed - he could hear the diaper crinkle.

Matt sighed. He guessed that it was around two in the morning. His friends had fallen asleep hours earlier. Matt knew that they wouldn’t sleep until he did, so he had pretended, if only for their benefit. Now, he sort of wished that he had someone to talk to.

Suddenly, he heard Karen stir.

“Matty?” She whispered, sitting up. “You awake?”

Wish granted. What luck.

“Yeah,” Matt whispered back. “Did I wake you up?” He mentally retraced the last few moments. He hadn’t moved at all.

“No. I woke up on my own. Must’ve known something was off.”

The sound of Karen and Matt talking soon woke Foggy.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, voice thick with sleep.

“Nothing’s wrong. Matty had a hard time sleeping.”

“Ohh. Did ya now?” Foggy sat up as well. “Bed not comfortable? Do you, uh... need something changed?”

“No. It’s not that. It’s fine. I guess I’m just… I don’t know.” Matt resisted the urge to curl up. He wanted to block everything out.

He was surprised when he felt two hands pulling him up. Foggy was pulling him closer. He helped Matt settle into a position where Matt’s head was resting on Foggy’s chest, near his heart. Foggy wrapped one arm around Matt’s back, and knew he’d made the right decision when he felt Matt hold on to him as well.

Matt’s back was facing Karen, and she began to rub it, gently. The combination of the sound of Foggy’s heartbeat, the warmth from his body and the feeling of Karen rubbing his back caused Matt to lose focus on the noise that had been keeping him awake. He couldn’t help but yawn.

No one said anything. Foggy continued to hold him, Karen continued to touch him, and soon enough he was finally asleep.


	5. Time Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matty gets put in time out.

“Seriously, Foggy?”

“You heard me. Sit down.”

Matt sighed, but sat down on the chair that Foggy had put out. It was a simple folding chair, but it was apparently spray painted neon orange. At least, that’s what Karen had told him. This was to distinguish it as "Matty’s Time Out Chair”.

“This is supposed to be my apartment, not my palace of shame,” Matt commented.

“You know the rules, Matty. No talking. If you didn’t want to sit in the Time Out Chair then you shouldn’t have broken the rules. You know that.”

Matt opened his mouth to protest but stopped himself. Doing so would only make things worse. Then he heard footsteps - Karen was coming.

“He’s back! And in the Time Out Chair. Perfect. You know,” she spoke to Matt, “You gave us a hell of a scare! I thought the rules were clear: no going out after eight pm, unless one of us is with you or we give you permission.”

Matt turned his face in her general direction, but said nothing. He’d stepped out because he’d heard something. It sounded like someone in distress - yelling in this godawful voice and scratching at someone.

It turned out to be two alleycats fighting each other three blocks away. Matt figured that perhaps his senses had dulled a bit since he’d taken up this ‘game’ with Foggy and Karen. He hadn’t been fighting as much, that was for sure, and most of his time was spent focusing on them. He would just have to listen harder next time, really figure out what was going on before jumping to conclusions.

“I’m not starting a whole conversation over this but I need to know - what exactly were you doing?”

Karen was still in the dark about his alternate identity. Matt would have to lie.

“I just needed some fresh air. We’ve been cooped up in here for days.”

“We took you to the park yesterday! Bad excuse. You just wanted to go out. You could’ve asked one of us, you know.”

Matt frowned and ‘stared’ down at his lap.

“How long?” He asked, softly. He was breaking the rules but he figured that they’d probably allow that question, at least.

“Hmm.” Foggy looked at Karen, “What do you think is fair?”

Matt tried to push down the urge to sigh again. He both hated and loved when Karen and Foggy acted as if they were his parents. This was one of the times where he hated it.

“I’d say an hour.”

“You hear that buddy? You got yourself an hour of time out.”

Again, Matt kept quiet.

He heard someone - Foggy - moving across the room, surely to get The Headphones.

The Headphones were a stupidly expensive pair of sound-blocking headphones that Foggy had purchased for the express purpose of “Time Out”.

Matt recalled the conversation Foggy and Karen had about them.

“Don’t let him fool you. He can hear really well. If we leave him in there without them he’ll listen to everything and it’ll be fun for him.”

Karen didn’t like the headphones. She thought they were cruel.

“Those again?” She asked.

Matt momentarily perked up when he heard that. Maybe Karen could convince Foggy not to use them.

“I’m telling you, he can -”

“I know. He can hear really well. I still don’t like it.”

“Fine. How’s about fifteen minutes with the headphones, forty five without.”

Matt grinned. Fifteen minutes was bearable. Foggy could be such a pushover.

“Yeah, okay.” He heard Karen pull out her phone and set a reminder for fifteen minutes.

“Call us if you need to use the bathroom or if you’re going to puke or if you need something really important. Otherwise, we’ll see you soon.”

Then Foggy put the headphones on.

“Bye,” Matt said, still smirking.

Thinking that Matt couldn’t possibly hear him, Foggy spoke again.

“He can be such a little smartass. Did you see him, still smirking even as I put the headphones on?”

“Aw. He’s just being Matty,” Karen replied.

It took all of Matt’s willpower not to laugh.


	6. Matt Sprains His Ankle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt sprains his ankle, Karen and Foggy care for him.

“Stop it, Matty,” Foggy said, before gently pushing Matt back down on the couch.

Matt had been attempting to stand up. ‘Not a good idea,’ Foggy thought to himself.

“I want some water,” Matt protested.

“So we’ll get you some. You heard what the doctor said. You need to stay off your feet as much as possible.”

Seconds later, Karen passed Foggy a glass of cold water. Foggy handed it to Matt, who chugged it quickly.

Matt felt better after having something to drink. Most likely, he thought, it was the dehydration and walk up the flight of stairs that had put him in such a bad mood.

All of this was happening over a sprained ankle. The thing wasn’t even broken. He would have let it heal on its own, despite the pain it brought, but Foggy and Karen would hear none of it.

Ultimately, he had himself to blame. He had failed to cover up his limp while walking into work. That had led to Foggy and Karen insisting that he see a doctor, who in turn had instructed him to rest as much as possible for the next week.

A small part of Matt’s mind wondered if he had failed to hide it intentionally. Okay, he definitely had done it intentionally. It was nice when Foggy and Karen took care of him.

Soon after he had started using diapers, he’d fallen into a different frame of mind whenever Foggy and Karen took care of him. He’d really begun identifying as “Matty”. Playing the role came much more naturally, and he had come to find it very relaxing. At one point, they’d been doing it nearly twice a month! But, they’d been pretty busy lately and hadn’t had time for it.

Now, they’d made time.

After a few moments of silence, Foggy finally spoke.

“We’ll have to figure out how to handle this. With the influx of clients, I should probably stay at the office. Karen, maybe you can take the day shift with Matty? I can come by at night.”

“I can still come in to work,” Matt said, now feeling somewhat guilty. He didn’t want Foggy to have to do twice as much because he was laid up. He began wondering if maybe he should have thought this plan through more.

“No, no. You’re injured. You should take a break,” Foggy replied. “Besides, knowing that I’ll get to come back to Matty Time will make the days better.”

Matt couldn’t see Foggy, but he could tell that Foggy was smiling.

“I can review notes here,” Matt offered.

“How about you just promise to be a good boy for Karen and me. Does that sound fair?”

“That sounds fair,” Matt agreed.

00

Foggy and Karen insisted that Matty wear a diaper, if only because it would save him from having to walk to the bathroom. Matty had put up a small fight, but it was mainly just for show. In the past months he’d gotten used to the diapers. He almost liked them, in a weird way.

The thing was, he’d been on his own, looking out for himself for so long - it was nice to have other people taking care of his needs. The fact that Foggy and Karen enjoyed it too just made it better.

Foggy, being stronger than Karen, changed Matty in the mornings, before going to work, and in the evenings. Karen did it during the day, though Matty did his best to limit the amount of times that she had to. She seemed not to mind, but maneuvering him around, no matter how much he helped, was difficult for her.

One thing that Matty liked about Karen was that she was the more gentle of the two. When she did change him, she did it in a soft, gentle way, cleaning him off and making sure that he was dry and that his diaper was properly put together. Foggy tended to be more rough with him, getting the job done with more efficiency and speed. Not that Matty would ever complain about it.

00

It was now the first morning of his ‘forced’ confinement. Karen had made him breakfast - miniature pancakes with strawberry syrup - and she’d fed it to him.  
For a while they’d laid around, talking. Matty had gotten to know many intimate details of Karen’s life through the stories that she told, but right then, he was the one explaining things.

“How exactly did you do it again?”

“I tripped when I was taking out the garbage. Uneven sidewalk patch. It was really dumb, I’ve lived here for years. I should have remembered it was there.”

That was what he told Karen. The truth was that he had injured himself while training. Since Fisk was gone, he had been less active at night. He’d been attempting to keep himself in shape and had hit the ground in a weird way after jumping off of a balcony.

“Oh, my poor Matty,” Karen said, frowning. She pulled him closer to her. He laid his head against her chest and closed his eyes while she ran her fingers through his hair.

It wasn’t a sexual thing. It was something that she did to calm him. He wasn’t upset, then, but he wasn’t going to turn down the prospect of a scalp massage and the smell of Karen’s body wash. That was another weird thing - she smelled like Sweet Pea flowers, but it was entirely natural. Usually Matt could distinguish the chemicals used to create a body wash, no matter how nice it smelled to most people, but Karen, somehow, had found something that didn’t contain any of that. The scent always relaxed him further.

“The city takes your garbage on Tuesdays and Fridays, right?”

“Yeah.”

“I could stop over on Monday nights and Thursday nights and take it out for you.”

Matt opened his eyes. He hadn’t expected Karen to offer something like that.

“No. You’ve done more than enough. I’ll be fine. Trust me, I’ll never forget about the sidewalk again.”

“But it’s not a big deal. I could stop over on the way home from work, take it out, then be on my way. That way you don’t have to risk it anymore. Especially during the winter - that’s got to be brutal for you.”

“It is, but I can handle it myself.”

He already took so much from Karen and Foggy, he didn’t want Karen using her spare time to help him on a twice-weekly basis. Just doing something like this on occasion was nice. Besides that, he didn’t want to talk about it anymore. Taking out the garbage was something that Matt did, not Matty. It was lame adult stuff.

“If you’re sure.”

“Mhm. I’m sure.”

Matty closed his eyes again and was soon lulled to sleep.

00

He woke again when Foggy came home. He’d heard the door open and had opened his eyes to find that Karen had tucked him in on the couch, laying a blanket over him and placing a pillow beneath his head. He also discovered that his diaper needed to be changed.

“Matty! You’re awake,” Foggy said.

Matty could hear his footsteps coming closer.

“He slept all afternoon,” Karen stated. She must have been in the kitchen, cooking something. Matt could smell the food she was making. Some type of pizza, most likely.

“Aw, is Matty tired?” Foggy asked. He sat on his kneeled down near the couch and planted a kiss on Matt’s forehead. Then he took a step back. “Oof. Matty needs a change.”

Matty felt himself blush and turned his face away. Some of this stuff was still embarrassing.

“You on it?” Karen called out.

“Yeah, sure.”

Matty heard the rustle of fabric as Foggy took off his suit jacket then began rolling up his sleeves. He searched around for the diaper bag before pulling out the supplies that he needed.

“Alright. Here we go.”

Matty felt the blanket come off. His pants - sweatpants - came next.

Then Matty did his part, pulling his knees up to his chest. He felt Foggy slide a chuck beneath him to keep the couch clean before removing the diaper.

In less than two minutes, Foggy had Matt cleaned and changed.

“Better, Matty?” Foggy asked, when he was done.

“Yes, thank you.”

“Sure thing.”

Foggy went off to wash his hands and prepare for dinner.

00

During Matty Time, no one talked about work.

It was just a rule. Talking about work tended to bring Matty out of the zone that he was in and often ruined the experience.

Instead, they talked about other things. Tonight, they were talking about dinner.

“This is really good,” Foggy said, taking a second slice of pizza. Matty was already on his third.

Karen grinned.

“Thank you! I found my aunt’s old recipe a few weeks ago and had been wanting to try it out.”

“You have an Italian aunt?”

“Yeah, actually. She was married to my father’s brother. She came straight from the old country. Beautiful woman, really. Great cook too. I think this is more of an American recipe, though.”

“Yeah, probably. You must have two types of cheese on here.”

“Three. And all the toppings are fresh, too.”

“Awesome!”

Matty nodded in agreement and finished off his piece, then reached for another one.

“Wanna slow down there, champ?” Foggy suggested. “We don’t need a repeat of what happened with the cookies.”

Matty instantly dropped the slice of pizza and cringed.

Normally, Matt was fairly regimented about what, when, and how much he ate.

When he was Matty, he had no such restrictions. This had been good insofar as helping him gain back the weight he’d lost while being sick, but it also had some bad consequences. The one that stuck out the most was the cookie incident. Long story short, Karen had made three dozen chocolate chip cookies. Matty had gotten in to said cookies and had eaten most of them. Matty had then thrown up on the bed in the middle of the night. It was not a pleasant experience for anyone involved, and Matty hadn’t dared to eat a chocolate chip cookie since.

“Come on, Foggy. Let him have what he wants.” Karen turned to Matty, “You can have some more, just eat slower. Here,” she placed a slice of pizza on his plate, picked up a knife and fork and began cutting it up. “That should take you a little longer to get through.”

Matty mumbled a thank you and began picking at it, still feeling somewhat wary.

00

While the first day had been pretty nice, the days that followed slowly became more and more boring. With his limited mobility, Matty couldn’t do much more than lie on the couch and either listen to Karen tell stories, talk to Karen, listen to the television, or sleep.

Karen, for her part, did try to keep him entertained, but there was only so much she could do. It didn’t help that it was gorgeous outside. Spring had finally warmed the city, and that week happened to be particularly beautiful. Had Matty not been injured, she would have loved to take him to the park, or maybe out for lunch somewhere.

On the third day, Matty officially went stir crazy and got up from his camp on the couch. He was quiet - quiet enough so that Karen, who was busy talking to her friend on the phone, thinking that he was sleeping - couldn’t hear him.

He wasn’t going to go far. Just to the bathroom. He wanted to wash his face. After that, he might open a window so he could enjoy the fresh air.

His ankle didn’t hurt that bad. It was sore, yes, but it wasn’t awful. He’d definitely been through worse.

He’d just made it to the bathroom when he suddenly stepped on the tile the wrong way. He gasped as pain radiated from his ankle up his leg. Then, he heard Karen’s footsteps.

“Matty! What are you doing?!”

“Going to the bathroom,” he answered.

Karen sighed loudly and returned to her phone call.

“Marie, I’ll have to call you back later.”

She hung up and glared at him. He couldn’t see it, but he sure that’s what she was doing.

“Matty, are you trying to make yourself worse? Come on, now! You have the diapers for a reason! Let’s get you back to the couch, or to bed!”

Matty frowned, knowing that the day was now going to be another extremely boring one, but complied.

Okay, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.


	7. Thumb Sucker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matty has an adorable new habit.

It had been a long week.

Matt, Foggy and Karen had spent sixty hours working. They’d had a big trial that week, and there had been a lot of documentation and evidence involved, but that wasn’t the hardest part.

The case itself had been draining both physically and emotionally. It had to do with the rape of a twelve year old girl by her uncle, who happened to be a rather powerful CFO. The girl’s parents had come to the office, wanting to see if they could sue for the medical bills that they had incurred during their daughter’s hospitalization.

The trial started on a Monday and was over by Thursday. It had been difficult to fight such a prominent, wealthy man, but they had won. The girl’s parents were awarded close to a million dollars. It would help get the collection agencies off their back, but it would never take away the psychological trauma that the girl had suffered.

Now that it was done, all Matt wanted to do was relax. He’d been tempted to ask Foggy and Karen to spend some time with him, but had felt bad doing so, knowing that they were both exhausted as well. Thus, he was very happy when Karen ended up suggesting it. She had previously said that Matty Time relaxed both her and Foggy. Matt felt that this proved that she been telling the truth.

Karen had cooked them a simple but nice dinner. After they’d eaten, Foggy had given Matty a bath and changed him, and then Matty went to sleep. It was only eight o’clock, but he was very tired.

Foggy stayed next to him, as he usually did. Matty waited for him to close his eyes before starting with his newest habit – one that he found to be somewhat embarrassing, but extremely comforting: sucking his thumb.

Matty had been doing it for a few weeks. It helped him calm down and he tended to sleep better when he did it, but he didn’t want Foggy or Karen to know. So, he would wait until whichever one of them was with him closed their eyes and fell asleep.

With his thumb in his mouth Matty quickly drifted off. He was so deeply asleep that he didn’t notice Foggy getting out of bed. He didn’t notice Foggy taking out his phone and taking a photo, either.

The redhead quietly made his way out of Matty’s bedroom to join Karen in the living room.

“He’s asleep?” She asked.

“Yeah,” Foggy replied, smirking.

“Let me guess, he did it again?”

“Yup. I even got a picture this time.” He whipped out his phone and showed her the photo. Matty was curled in a fetal position and had his thumb in his mouth. The red, white and blue Captain America comforter that Karen had gotten him covered him halfway.

“That’s so freakin’ adorable!” She squealed. “But… you know he’ll kill us if he finds out.”

Foggy grinned and turned the phone off.

“He’d have to figure out my password first.”


	8. Matty Gets Jealous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karen gets a boyfriend, Matty gets jealous. He also gets spanked. Lots of angst and crying on Matty's part.

Karen had been dating Jake for a little more than three weeks, and all had been going well. They’d met at a bar - not Josie’s - and had hit it off almost immediately. Jake was a nice guy. He worked as a fireman and EMT, jobs which fit his kind-hearted nature. That was the thing that Karen liked most about him. He was good to others, treating them just as he would like to be treated.

Foggy had been a little jealous at first, but he had his on/off thing with Marcy, so he couldn’t say much. And Matt - well, adult Matt - had yet to comment. He didn’t seem particularly upset about it though.

So, Karen hadn’t put it together when Matty had started acting out.

At first it was small things, like knocking the books off of the shelf that Foggy had purchased. Matty had played it off as an accident, but Karen was almost sure that it had been intentional.

It then began to escalate. Karen had made Matty dinner one evening and he’d promptly thrown it out without even taking a bite.

Foggy had still been at work, so Karen reprimanded Matty on her own, first making him explain his action (“I don’t like meatloaf” was his answer) then sending him to sit in time out for an hour.

When Foggy returned, she brought it up to him. He didn’t seem surprised. In fact, he had noticed that something was off with Matty as well. Matty wasn’t actively destroying things around Foggy as he had with Karen, but Foggy had noticed that Matty seemed more angsty and depressed. When Karen went on dates, Foggy would stay with Matty. He’d offer to read to him or give him an extra long bubble bath or to take him for a walk, but Matty often refused, preferring to lie in bed.

With both Karen and Foggy sufficiently disturbed, it was decided that Foggy would try speaking to Matty. Maybe he could figure out what was wrong and they could work on correcting it.

00

“What’s bothering you?”

Matty shook his head but said nothing, opting to bury his face in his pillow. Maybe Foggy would think he was sleeping and leave him alone. He slowed his breathing and closed his eyes, hoping that it might work.

Matty heard a loud sigh and knew that his plan had failed.

“I know you’re awake, Matty. Come on. Let’s talk.”

Matty frowned and pulled himself up.

“Good,” Foggy said, turning to face him. “Now tell me what’s going on. You’ve been acting out a lot recently. Karen said that she had to put you in time out because you threw out the dinner she made you, and that you threw your books on the floor! You never used to cause trouble like this. We’re worried about you.”

Matty ‘stared’ at his hands, feeling a combination of anger, hurt and embarrassment.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled. “I’ll behave better.”

“I’m glad to hear that but you still haven’t answered my question. What’s wrong?”

Suddenly, Matty felt like he was about to cry. He could feel tears building up. Seconds later, they were falling down his cheeks. He heard Foggy get off the bed. Then the mattress dipped next to him. Foggy sat near him and began to wipe away his tears.

“Hey,” Foggy said, softly. “Come here, it’s okay.” He moved to pull Matty into a hug, but Matty beat him to it, quickly moving to rest his head on Foggy’s shoulder.

Foggy sat there silently, holding Matty while he cried.

00

Foggy never got an answer from Matty. He cried until he was tired and had ended up falling asleep. Foggy didn’t have the heart to wake him.

He quietly closed the door to Matty’s bedroom and made his way into the living room, where Karen was already sitting.

“Any luck?” Karen asked.

Foggy frowned.

“No. He started crying when I questioned him and then he fell asleep. He said he would behave better, though.”

“Hm. It just seems so out of character for him. He can be… well, bratty sometimes, but lately he’s been outright spiteful it seems. I’m not sure what he’s so angry about.”

“I’m sure we’ll get to the bottom of it eventually,” Foggy reassured her.

00

The sound of footsteps alerted Foggy and Karen to Matty’s presence a couple of hours later.

They were in the middle of an SNL marathon when he had shown up. Karen could tell by his red, puffy eyes that he had been crying and decided not to question him.

“Hey, Matty,” she greeted him.

Matty nodded, but said nothing.

“How are you feeling?” Foggy tried. “Do you need something?”

“Kinda hungry,” he replied, scratching the back of his head.

Karen pushed herself up.

“There's some some spaghetti and meatballs leftover. I’ll heat it up for you.”

She walked off before Matty could respond, leaving him alone with Foggy.

“You feeling any better?” Foggy asked.

Matty shrugged and sat down on a chair. Foggy took note of this. Usually Matty sat close to him or Karen. Recently he had really seemed to crave affection, going so far as to ask the two of them to sleep in bed with him.

Karen returned soon and placed a bowl of food in Matty’s hands, then gave him a fork.

“Here you go.”

She sat back down next to Foggy.

There was a short silence as Matty seemingly inspected the bowl. Karen and Foggy glanced over at him from time to time, but had turned their attention to the television and to each other, making light conversation.

“So if you don’t mind taking tomorrow night, I was planning on meeting up with Jake. He mentioned taking me to Little Italy,” Karen said.

Foggy didn’t have time to respond. The conversation was interrupted by a loud ‘bang’ as the bowl of spaghetti went flying across the room and hit the wall.

“Jesus Christ, Matty, what the fuck?!” Foggy yelled.

He and Karen quickly stood up.

Matty didn’t reply. Rather, he just sat there, ‘staring’ at them.

Karen was stunned, but Foggy had had enough. He stomped over to Matty, reached under his armpits and pulled him to his feet.

“What the fuck was that? Explain yourself, young man!”

He was yelling in Matty’s face. Matty could hear Foggy’s heart beating, fast and intense. He was truly angry. When Matty didn’t speak, he heard Foggy’s heart pound harder.

“That’s it. I never thought I’d have to do this but take off your pants.”

Matty’s eyes widened and he began to feel nervous.

“W-why?”

“Because I’m going to spank you. Take. Off. Your. Pants.”

Fear often made Matty clumsy, and he fumbled with the drawstring of his pajama bottoms as he tried to untie it. Foggy was in no mood to wait, though. He pushed Matty’s hands away and undid it himself, then pulled the PJs down to around his ankles. Matty had a diaper on, but it was a thin one, one of the types used to help with bedwetting. Foggy was grateful for this.

He sat down on the chair and pulled Matty with him, forcing him face down over his lap.

“Foggy-” Karen started, but he held up his hand.

“No. He’s gone too far.” Foggy raised his hand and swatted Matty on the backside, hard. Matty whimpered. Foggy did it again, then once more for good measure. Then he let Matty back up.

Matty looked extremely upset, but Foggy couldn’t bring himself to feel sympathy. He shook his head and got up, intent on cleaning up the mess that Matty had made.

Karen moved closer to Matty and helped him do up his pants.

“Matty,” she whispered, putting her hands on his shoulders, “You have to stop this. What is it that’s bothering you?”

“I didn’t want spaghetti.”

Karen sighed.

“Try again. What’s really bothering you? Come on. We took this week off to spend time with you, but you’re ruining it. Do you want to not have Matty Time anymore? Is that it?”

“I’m tired of hearing about Jake,” Matty answered, feeling a wave of anger come over him. “I don’t like him!”

Both Karen and Foggy were stunned. Foggy stopped what he was doing.

“Is that what this is all about?”

His tone was soft, kind. Not loud and angry like it had been moments earlier. Even his breathing had calmed. Matty felt the rage ebb away again. He didn’t respond to Foggy. Instead he addressed Karen.

“You’re always talking about him and you go out at night and spend time with him. When you come back you smell like him. Then you talk about him more! You used to spend night time with me and Foggy and now you’re gone!”

Karen’s jaw dropped.

“I...I’m sorry, Matty. I didn’t realize how upset you were over this. I’m sorry that I’ve made you feel… jealous, I guess. That wasn’t my intent.”

“I miss you,” Matty said, voice barely above a whisper. “Does Jake even know about me?”

Karen was silent for a moment. That told Matty all he needed to know. She didn’t need to actually speak, but eventually she did.

“...No, he doesn’t.”

“So you’re ashamed, then.”

“Matty, it’s not… It’s not like that. I’ve only just started seeing Jake. I haven’t figured out how to tell him yet, or if he’s even worthy of knowing! It’s only been, what… three weeks?”

Matty began to tear up again and Karen pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling extremely stressed out.

“Alright. Okay,” she finally said, “I’ll make more of an effort to pay attention to you, and not to talk about Jake when you’re around, okay? And I suppose I can try to limit our dates to days when Matty Time isn’t in effect.”

Foggy, who had been watching the two talk, spoke up.

“That’s really nice of you, Karen. But this still doesn’t excuse Matty’s behavior lately. Matty, you know better. Throwing food at the walls or in the garbage, pushing over your books - that’s all unacceptable. You’re a smart boy. You need to talk about your feelings instead of doing bad things.”

“I’m sorry. I understand if you hate me now,” Matty said, in the saddest tone that Karen and Foggy had ever heard. Matty turned around and walked back into his bedroom, closing the door behind him.

“Ah, fuck,” Foggy grumbled. “It’s going to be a long night.”

00

“Matty, no one hates you.”

Karen was sitting on the bed next to Matty, rubbing his back in an attempt to calm him. Foggy was standing in the door, speaking.

“It’s true,” Karen added. “Neither of us could ever hate you.”

Matty was curled up again, Captain America blanket wrapped tightly around him. He clutched his pillow tightly. Karen could see tear stains on the pillow case.

“I did bad things,” Matty sobbed. “Foggy hit me!”

Matty started hiccupping as the sobs overwhelmed him. When he couldn’t stop himself from crying, he began to hyperventilate.

“Christ,” Foggy mumbled, making his way over. “Matty, you need to sit up.”

Nothing. Matty didn’t move. He seemed to be having a panic attack. Foggy had to admit that he himself was feeling nervous - he’d never seen Matty, or Matt, like that before.

“Karen, help me,” Foggy said.

Together Karen and Foggy managed to get the blanket off of Matty and get him into a sitting position. Then Foggy kneeled down so that he was closer to eye level with Matty. He supposed that Matty could probably tell his position by hearing him, or something.

“Matty, stop.”

Foggy took hold of Matty’s arms and held him firmly, catching Matty’s attention.

“Take a deep breath,” he instructed.

Matty was still shaking, but he managed to do as he was told.

“Good. I’m going to count to three, then you’re going to let it out. One… two… three.”

Matty exhaled.

“Good job. Let’s do it again, okay?”

Foggy continued coaching Matty through the exercise until his breathing returned to normal. When it finally did, he latched on to Foggy, pulling him onto the bed and hugging him. They were in the same position that they’d been in hours earlier, except the crying had stopped.

Now that there was calm, Foggy began again.

“Matty, neither of us will ever hate you. I spanked you because you threw a bowl of spaghetti at the wall, and because I was angry at you for being rude to Karen. But anger is not the same as hatred. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Matty whispered.

“I’m sorry for upsetting you.”

Matty stayed quiet, enjoying the feeling of Foggy’s close presence. He was already getting over everything. If Foggy and Karen would just stay, he would be okay.

“I am too,” Karen said, running a hand through Matty’s hair. “I didn’t mean to cause all of this. Foggy’s right, though. We’ll always love you, Matty. Always.”

“I believe you,” Matty answered, if only for Karen’s sake. He felt like she needed to hear it.

“Good.”

The three sat there in silence for a while longer, until Matty again fell asleep. Foggy and Karen then changed into their own pajamas and crawled into bed with him.


	9. Fever Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matty gets the flu and has lots of nightmares. Karen and Foggy help calm him down throughout the night. Matty gets lots of cuddles with Foggy, too.

Normally, Matt’s heightened senses were a good thing.

They allowed him to fight criminals in his Daredevil persona, for one. But they also had simpler benefits. If Matt was trying to sleep and heard something ‘thump’ on the roof of his apartment, he could usually distinguish, in a matter of seconds, whether the sound had come from a person or an object. If it was an object – and it usually was something mundane like that – a piece of trash that someone had left up there that had blown over – Matt could go back to sleep.

His senses helped him keep calm at night, when every sound seemed louder because of the general silence of the building.

00

Part of playing Matty was lessening the extent to which he used his senses. Matty allowed himself to focus on things, if necessary, but in general he tried to keep just enough focus to allow himself to walk and find what he needed, but nothing more.  
At first he’d had to force it. He had to convince himself that he would never get the full benefit of their age play if he maintained such aspects of his adult life. The whole thing revolved around giving up control to Foggy and Karen, after all.

Over time it got easier. When Matty Time came around Matt was able to ‘switch’ off his extra abilities. For the most part, this was good. Now, though, Foggy couldn’t help but wish that Matty would use them.

00

Matt (adult Matt) had gotten sick. He had stayed home from work. After closing up, Foggy and Karen went to his apartment to check on him. It wasn’t long before the situation evolved into another age-play scenario.  
“Who gets the flu in the summertime?” Foggy asked.

He was in the living room, kneeling on the floor next to Matty and adjusting an ice pack that had been placed on Matty’s forehead.

Matty groaned.

“I don’t feel good,” he replied, before breaking into a coughing fit.

Foggy stood up and backed away, trying to avoid catching Matty’s illness.

The door opened and Karen walked in, holding a clothes hamper.

“I think he has a low immune system. Matty, are you still feeling cold?”

“He said he was hot a minute ago. Hence the icepack,” Foggy answered.

“So much for warming up blankets in the dryer then.” Karen put the basket down and made her way over to Matty’s side. “Thankfully it’s Friday. We can stay the weekend and help you get better.”

00

It had been hard enough trying to get Matty to eat and bathe. He wasn’t hungry and refused everything that had been offered except for a cupcake. Karen gave in and let him have it if only because it was better for him to eat something than nothing. When it came to bath time, Matty had essentially gone limp and Foggy had to drag him into the bathroom, set up the bath, get him undressed and lift him into the tub. Then, of course, he had to wash him and get him out.

Foggy would have been annoyed if not for the fact that Matty really did seem to be ill and was probably too tired to bathe himself.

Karen helped Foggy get Matty into bed around nine. Neither Karen nor Foggy was tired, but they didn’t dare to leave Matty’s side. He seemed to be particularly clingy that evening, grabbing on to anyone who so much tried to shift away from him.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Karen tried to explain. “I’m just giving you some space. And trying to keep myself from getting sick too, but I think it’s too late for that.”

Matty sighed and let go of her hand. After that, Karen stayed close.

By ten, Matty was asleep. Karen had shut her eyes and was attempting to rest herself. She was having a dream about cats following her around Hell’s Kitchen when she felt the Matty move.

Quickly, she and Foggy sat up. Matty was already sitting, apparently listening to something.

“What’s wrong?” Karen asked.

“There’s something outside,” Matty whispered. “I was dreaming about it coming in – I could hear it stomping closer and closer to the bed, then I woke up, and it was real!” With that, he grabbed on to Foggy, looking for protection.

Foggy and Karen looked to the window.

“It’s raining is all, Matty. There’s no one in the room. You must have heard some thunder or something,” Foggy said, softly.

Matty was quiet again, probably listening intently. When no other sounds besides the rain came, he let go of Foggy.

“You must be right. I’m sorry, Foggy.” He began coughing again.

“It’s okay, Matty. Just try to get some more sleep. We’re right here with you.”

Matty slowly lay back down, noticing that his pillow was covered in sweat. He flipped it over and closed his eyes.

00

“GET OFF OF ME!”

Foggy nearly fell out of bed. Karen jumped up. Both looked at Matty, who had his back against the wall, fighting off some unseen entity. Well, it was more like cowering in fear because of some unseen entity. Foggy supposed that it might be better that he was afraid. If Matty somehow went into Daredevil mode, he might injure someone.

“Matty, Matty wake up,” Karen was shaking him.

At first he batted her away, mumbling something like “save yourself”. Then Foggy tried. He shook Matt a little harder, forcing him out of the nightmare he was having.

“Foggy?” Matty asked, after a few seconds. His breathing was ragged and he was sweating. “Foggy, what happened?”

“You had a nightmare. A really bad one, it seems.”

“Are you sure?” Matty wrapped his arms around himself. Whether this was done out of fear or because he felt cold, Foggy couldn’t tell.

“I’m sure. There’s nothing here. No one’s hurting you.”

“It felt so real…What's that sound?”

"It's the rain again, Matty. Remember? There's a storm going on."

When Matty didn't respond, Karen reached over and placed a hand on his forehead.

“He’s burning up. Get the thermometer?”

Foggy nodded and went to get it. He returned and ordered Matty to open his mouth.

“Keep it there for a minute,” he instructed.

Matty nodded and stayed as still as possible, not that he had much energy to move around anyway.

When the time was up Karen removed it and flicked on the light to read it.

“102. Not good. If it goes up another degree we’ll have to take him to the h-o-s-“

“No hospitals!” Matty cried. “I can spell. No hospitals. I hate hospitals. No!”

“You could get really sick if we don’t, though,” Karen replied. “And we would stay with you of course.”

Matty shook his head ‘no’ and looked as if he were about to cry. Once again he turned to Foggy for comfort, resting his head on Foggy’s chest.

Foggy wrapped his arms around Matty.

“We can check him again in another hour and decide what to do. For now, let’s see if we can get him to drink some water and take some Tylenol.” He patted Matty’s back, “Do you think you can do that for us?”

“I’m not thirsty,” Matty mumbled, face buried in Foggy’s pajama shirt.

“It might help you get better, though. And if you start getting better, we won’t have to take you to the –“

“Okay, okay,” Matty agreed. “Anything but the hospital.”

Seeing as how Matty didn’t seem as if he would be releasing Foggy anytime soon, Karen got up to get water and pills. She returned and handed off the water to Foggy, who held it to Matty’s lips. Matty took a few large sips before Foggy pulled it away.

“Open wide,” he said.

When Matty complied Foggy placed the two pills on his tongue and once again held up the glass.

“Try to finish it up,” he urged.

Matty drank the rest of the water. Foggy murmured a ‘good job’ and turned the lights out.

“Just try to rest, Matty. Remember that we’re right here with you. We won’t let anyone or anything hurt you.”

00

Matty was strapped to a hospital bed, unable to move. No matter how hard he tried, he wasn’t strong enough to break the restraints holding him down. He continued to struggle until he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. The smell of antiseptic and latex told him that the people coming were doctors or nurses.

“Let me go,” Matty begged. “Please. I’m not sick. I don’t belong here!”

One of the doctors laughed, an evil, twisted laugh.

“Don’t belong here? Of course you do! But don’t you worry, none of our experiments will hurt. Well, okay, they will, but you’ll pass out from the pain before it gets too bad.”

There came the sound of a machine, maybe a saw or drill of some type. He felt a needle puncture his skin, then another one, each driving into his veins. He couldn’t move at all, then. His whole body was paralyzed, but his mind still worked.

Matty wanted to scream, yell, beg for help, but he couldn’t speak. The machine was getting closer. It was only an inch or so away from his neck, now. A tear rolled down his cheek – then, his body began to shake.

“Matty! Matty wake up!”

Did he hear Karen’s voice? It sounded like Karen…

“Wake up!” She cried again.

She’d been shaking him for close to a minute. She’d waken up to find him shivering and crying in his sleep. At some point he’d let go of Foggy and had curled up in the middle of the bed. The blanket that had been covering him was gone.

Matty opened his eyes, not that it did any good.

“Karen?” He asked, weakly.

“Oh, thank God. You scared the crap out of me!”

Matty didn’t seem to hear her. He still felt terrified. The dream had been one of the worst that he’d had, worse than the one about the monster coming into the room and worse than the one about being attacked.

“They were going to cut me open,” he whispered. Then, frantically, he began feeling around the bed, grasping on to sheets, touching Karen’s hand, hitting Foggy in the side.

“Ow!” Foggy exclaimed.

“I’m really here,” Matty mumbled.

Foggy groaned. He’d finally managed to fall asleep himself.

“Another nightmare?”

“It was horrible.” Matty’s voice sounded weak.

Foggy sighed.

“It’s okay, Matty. It was just a bad dream.” He touched Matty’s arm and noticed that he was still warm.

“Karen, can you take his temp again? I think he’s having fever dreams.”

“On it.”

For the second time that night, Matty had the thermometer stuck under his tongue. He prayed as hard as he could that his fever hadn’t gone up. He didn’t think he could face having to go to the hospital, not after the dream he’d just had.

“101.8,” Karen read off. “It went down a little Guess the Tylenol helped.”

Matty breathed a sigh of relief.

“Guess that means you don’t have to go to the ER after all,” Foggy said.

As Matty cuddled up next to Foggy again, Foggy noticed that the rain had stopped. The sky was lighter, too. He checked his watch, glad that he’d bought one that glowed in the dark.

It was near dawn, and they’d barely gotten any sleep. Foggy closed his eyes, hoping that Matty might let them get some rest now.

‘Thank God it’s Saturday,’ he thought to himself.


	10. Matty Goes Down the Shore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt (adult Matt), Karen and Foggy take a trip down the shore.  
> Matty comes out after Matt nearly drowns. Karen and Foggy briefly argue. Everyone goes on rides.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly I hate this chapter but it introduces how Matty gets Simon his stuffed animal.

It was the end of July, and Foggy, Karen and Matt had yet to make the trip down the shore that Karen and Foggy had wanted so much. The firm had been busy, then Matt had gotten the flu (again!) and had ended up missing half a week of work. Foggy did his best, but had fallen behind. He, Matt and Karen had spent a great deal of time after hours trying to catch up.

Now, they finally had a free day. It was a beautiful one, too. The sun was out and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. It was hot, but not humid.

Foggy rented a car and picked up Karen and Matt early in the morning, intent on beating traffic. He hoped the day would go well. Matt was coming along as himself, not as Matty, and Foggy was kind of sad about that, but he resolved to have a good time nonetheless.

By seven fifteen they had exited the Lincoln Tunnel. By eight they were on the turnpike, and Matt was asleep in the backseat.

00

Matt slept until they arrived at the beach. It had been a two hour and fifteen minute drive. Karen woke Matt up as Foggy got out of the car and stretched his legs. He’d parked in one of the lots that charged by the hour or by the day. As he finished stretching, he looked over to see that another car had pulled up beside him. It was a small car – a Geo Metro that had to be from the 90s. A rather large woman sat behind the steering wheel. Foggy watched as she pushed the steering wheel up and off of her stomach and hoisted herself out of the car. She shut the door, looked around and hocked a loogie on the ground.

“Ah, good old Sleazeside Heights,” Foggy mumbled.

“What was that?” Karen asked. She was carrying a large bag that contained their beach gear. Matt stood nearby, holding a buckets and shovel that Karen had insisted on bringing.

The woman from the other car glanced at him and Foggy turned away.

“Nothing, nothing. Let’s go pay our twenty dollars and hit that beach!”

Karen and Matt both smiled and followed him out of the lot.

00

Karen, Foggy and Matt were making their way down the boardwalk when Matt suddenly stopped.

“What’s going on?” Foggy asked, coming to his side.

Matt was ‘looking’ out towards the beach.

“It sounds like someone’s making a sandcastle.”

Foggy and Karen both looked around, trying to figure out if Matt was correct. Eventually their gaze settled on two little girls sitting about twenty feet away. They were indeed building a sandcastle. It had two large towers and a moat around it. One of the girls was running to the shoreline to gather water in a bucket to put in the moat. The other girl was busy planting a ‘flag’ on top of the castle.

“Oh God,” Karen gasped. “That’s awful!”

Foggy saw what she was looking at and began to laugh.

“What is it?” Matt asked, unhappy about not being in on whatever the joke was.

The girl had found a discarded tampon holder and was using it as a flag.

“Nothing,” Foggy managed to get out in between chuckles, “You- you were right. They’re definitely building a sandcastle.”

Matt frowned, but said nothing.

00

Karen decided that it was best for them to go to the beach before hitting up the rides on the boardwalk, so that was what they did. As it was fairly early, the beach wasn’t too crowded.

Foggy was busy spreading out a blanket for them to sit on while Karen removed her shorts and shirt, revealing a bikini.

“I’d like to go swim first,” she told them.

“Have fun,” Matt told her. Foggy grinned and looked her over, then echoed Matt’s sentiments.

Once Karen had gone off, Matt and Foggy sat down.

“I’ve got some beer in the cooler if you want,” Foggy offered.

“It’s not even noon.”

Foggy shrugged and took one out for himself, making sure to keep it out of view from the other beach-goers.

“It’s five o’clock somewhere.”

Matt chuckled.

“That it is.”

The two sat for a while, enjoying the sunshine, breeze and the smell of the ocean. Matt found it to be very relaxing.

“So,” Foggy spoke up, after finishing his beer. “I had a few questions I’ve been meaning to ask you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. About the whole ‘Matty’ thing. I was just wondering, why do you like it so much? It seems like lately you’ve really gotten into it. Not that I’m complaining, I mean, I like it too, and so does Karen.”

Matt smiled.

“It’s kind of hard to explain. I guess what it comes down to is that my life is pretty high-stress. You know that better than anyone, Karen included,” he said referring to his Daredevil persona.

“I do,” Foggy agreed.

“For a long time, I never really had an outlet for it. I just lived with it, coped. Bottled everything up. Sometimes if I fought people, I’d get some of my frustration out, but it wasn’t really enough. You have no idea how many times I’d lay awake at night, just thinking. Over thinking, really. Sometimes I felt scared, too. A lot of times, actually.”

“I can’t say I blame you,” Foggy replied, taking out another drink.

“That’s all part of it. The other part is that, well...I never knew my mother. I mean, not well. She wasn’t around. Whenever I got sick or was upset, I had my dad, and he was nice but he was tough too. Matt Murdock was never allowed to cry or complain. Matty can. It helps me cope with life, I guess.”

“That all makes sense. I’m glad that we can help you like that.”

“I’m grateful for you both,” Matt said, sincerely.

“We’re grateful for you too, Matt. We really are.”

00

After sitting with Foggy for a while, Matt decided to join Karen in the ocean. She sounded like she was having a blast jumping into the waves and swimming around. He took off his shirt, folded it neatly and placed it near Karen’s beach bag.

“See you later,” he said to Foggy.

“Have fun! Don’t get any diseases from the needles in the water!”

Matt wondered for a moment if Foggy was being serious about the needles, but eventually shrugged it off as a joke. Once he felt the waves touch his feet, any notion that the water could be infested with such things became unrealistic.

The feeling was amazing. The water was cold, but not too cold. The smell of it was wonderful. He couldn’t help but smile.

“Do you like it?” Karen asked. She had waded over to him.

“I love it.”

“Wanna go out a little deeper?”

“Sure.”

Together they walked. The water got higher with each step taken. Matt relaxed, enjoying every second of it.

He was so relaxed that he didn’t hear Karen yelling “get back!” before it was too late.

A large, strong wave hit him in the chest, catching him off guard. He fell back into the water.

Instantly, he began to panic. He tried to touch the bottom but he found that he couldn’t. He felt like he might be horizontal, but he wasn’t sure. Matt began to flail around. He wanted to scream for help but he couldn’t. His heart was racing and he felt sure that he was going to die.

Then he felt two hands reach under his arms. The hands pulled him up and out of the water.

“I got him!” A male voice called out.

Matt took a huge breath, grateful to be safe.

“Oh my God, is he okay? Matt, are you okay?!” It was Karen, and she sounded frantic.

The man who was holding Matt held him to stand but kept an arm around his waist.

“Can you stand on your own, sir?”

Matt didn’t answer. He didn’t know what to say. Relieved as he was to be out of the water, he felt scared.

“Matt, can you stand?” Karen asked, when he didn’t respond.

“I think so,” he finally answered.

Seconds later Foggy came running over. Together he and Karen pulled Matt onto the beach and away from the water. Matt could hear Karen talking to the man who’d pulled him out, saying something like ‘thank you so much!’. He sort of tuned the rest out.

When they arrived back at the blanket, Foggy helped Matt to sit down.

“Are you okay?” Foggy asked, speaking softly. Matt looked terrified.

“I dunno,” Matt pulled his knees up to his chest.

Foggy rested a hand on Matt’s back.

“Thank goodness the lifeguards were so fast,” Karen said, taking a seat near them.

“If you’d been watching him there wouldn’t have been a need for the lifeguards,” Foggy shot at her. “He’s fricking blind!” He felt extremely pissed off. Seeing Matt so shaken up often did that to him.

Matt heard Karen’s breathing hitch.

“Excuse me? I was watching him! I called out to him to move back like four times!”

“You were ten feet away from him, Karen. I saw you both. You really need to be more careful!”

Now Karen was really mad. Matt could tell by how fast and hard her heart was pumping.

“If you felt that you could have done a better job then you should’ve come in with us instead of sitting in the sand like… like a beached whale!”

“Wow that was really fucked up,” Foggy said, sounding slightly less angry but much more insulted.

“Well you’re being fucked up!”

“Stop it, please,” Matt whispered. Having Karen and Foggy argue right after his experience was making things worse.

Foggy and Karen stopped arguing, both recognizing that it wasn’t Matt who was talking to them, now. It was Matty.

“I’m sorry, buddy,” Foggy started. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Matty shook his head and hugged his knees even closer to his chest, if it were at all possible. He looked like he was shaking.

“Oh, Matty…” Karen dug around in the beach bag and pulled out a large beach towel. She wrapped it around Matty’s shoulders in an attempt to warm him up and calm him down.

“It’s okay,” Foggy reassured him. “It’s fine. You’re totally safe, now.”

Considering what Matt had told him just a few minutes earlier, the change in demeanor made sense. Matt had experienced a traumatizing event and he was reacting to it in the easiest way that he could.

Foggy and Karen sat with Matty for a while, occasionally holding him. Eventually, Matty asked to get up.

“I don’t feel good,” he murmured.

Foggy helped him to his feet and Karen took away the towel and helped him get his shirt on.

Unsure of what was wrong, Foggy and Karen decided to lead Matty to the boardwalk. There were restrooms there, if he felt like he was going to be sick, and the car wouldn’t be too far off if he wanted to lie down in it for a while.

Matty took two steps into the sand then began to falter. He felt so weak and dizzy. Right before he fell, Foggy caught him.

“Shit,” Foggy muttered. “He’s probably got some kind of shock. Let’s get him to a bench, get him something to eat or drink. It might help.”

Together they helped Matty walk off the beach. They deposited him on the first bench they found. By the time he got there, he was still shaking, but seemed slightly less dizzy.

“What do you want to eat, Matty?” Karen asked. “You can have anything you want.”

Matty shrugged and leaned on Foggy for support.

“Go get a few things,” Foggy instructed. “Here.” He handed her his wallet, “Get yourself something too. I’m sorry for yelling at you.”

“It’s fine… You were worried about Matt, I understand. I'm sorry for comparing you to a whale.”

Matty groaned, reminding them of his presence.

“I’ll, um, be right back.”

Karen ran off towards the nearest concession stand while Matty rested his head on Foggy’s shoulder.

00

Fifteen minutes later Karen returned, her arms filled with various foods and drinks.

“Alright, since Foggy’s buying, I figured I’d get you a few different things. We have pizza, because I know how much you like that, and some frozen yogurt, and some french fries and some coke and water. What would you like?”

“Frozen yogurt,” Matty answered, holding out a shaky hand to take the cone.

“Here, let me get that for ya.” Foggy took it and held it up to Matty’s lips.

Matty reluctantly licked it. Then, deciding that it tasted good, he began eating faster, interspacing bites of food with sips of coke.

Oddly enough, Matty seemed almost fully recharged when he was done. He stood up without any help, seemingly full of energy.

"I feel better now. Can we go on the rides?"

Karen and Foggy looked at each other.

"Uh, sure, Matty, if that's what you want."

Matty nearly jumped for joy. He rushed Foggy and Karen along until they reached the pier where the rides were. Matty listened closely before pointing at a ferris wheel.

"Let's go on that."

"O...kay. But you won’t be able to see enjoy the view,” Foggy said.

“It probably feels nice up there.”

“Okay. Sure. I’ll go get us some tickets.”

Foggy walked off to the ticket booth while Matty took in his surroundings. There was obnoxious carnival music playing, but it didn’t really bother him. He could smell several different types of foods, though most of it was deep fried. People were everywhere, now. It was wonderful but overwhelming at the same time and he looked forward to the clarity that being high above the pier would bring.

Foggy soon approached Matty and Karen, tickets in hand.

“Got the tickets. Let’s get on line.”

The kid running the ride did a double take when he saw Matty, but said nothing. He attempted to help him into the cart but Matty gently pushed him away.

“He can do it himself,” Foggy explained. “But thanks.”

The kid nodded and went back to his post.

The ride began to move, and Matty enjoyed the feeling of rising higher and higher. After a while they reached the top. Karen and Foggy chose to look out at the surroundings, while Matty decided to focus his senses.

A breeze blew by, bringing the smell of the ocean to them. Despite what had happened earlier, the smell still made Matty smile.

Within moments he had figured out what he wanted to do next, and when the ride was over he wasted no time in dragging Karen and Foggy to their next destination.

00

The three arrived back at Matty’s place around eight pm. It had been an exciting day, but everyone was tired. Foggy walked Karen and Matty inside then left to return the car he had rented.

When he came back to the apartment an hour later, he was greeted by Karen, who placed a finger in front of her lips.

“Shh,” she warned him.

Foggy raised an eyebrow, but quietly walked inside.

“Look,” she whispered, leading Foggy over to the couch.

Foggy grinned. Matty was asleep, thumb in his mouth and clutching the puppy dog doll that they’d won on the boardwalk. Karen had won it for him at one of the game booths, and Matty had named the stuffed animal Simon.

“I went to make up a bath for him and found him like this when I came back out,” Karen explained.

Foggy held up his phone and opened the camera app, flipping past the other pictures he had taken that day. The one of the sandcastle and Karen and Matty had built, and of Karen and Matty on the ferris wheel, and of Karen winning Simon. He snapped a photo of Matty sleeping on the couch. It was, he felt, the perfect ending to his album of the day.


	11. Karen goes to Tokyo (and Matty gets Depressed)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karen finds out that Matt is Daredevil and leaves. Matty takes it very hard.

Matt planned on telling Karen about his alter ego at some point, but when it would happen, he wasn’t sure. He sort of just figured that he would do it when it felt like the right time.

But, life has its ways and Karen ended up finding out about it on her own. Unfortunately, it happened at the worst possible time.

Foggy and Karen had come to Matt’s apartment for a weekend of Matty Time. It was the beginning of autumn, and Karen had decided to do some cleaning before it became too cold. Knowing that Matt might have a harder time locating his winter clothes and putting away his summer clothes, she had taken the task upon herself.

One box of clothing was found, but Karen knew that there had to be others. Matt had more than four outfits after all.

After some digging, she came across a box in the back of another closet.

‘This has to be it,’ she thought to herself.

Matt, or Matty, rather, had heard the closet door open. That particular door made a creaking sound, and so he knew exactly where Karen was. He stood up from the couch, where he and Foggy were snuggling, and darted towards Karen’s location, the entire time hoping that she hadn’t opened the box.

He was close - so close. He stopped just in time to hear the box fall to the floor. Karen had dropped it.

“What… What the fuck is this?” She asked, holding up the suit. She herself was looking it over in awe. “Matty… Matt. Please tell me this is a joke.”

The tone of her voice and severity of the situation forced Matt to come out of the headspace he was in.

“Karen…”

“Is this what I think it is?” Her hands were shaking.

Matt considered lying to her. Telling her that it was a Halloween costume or something to that extent. A joke, as Karen had put it. Nothing more.

But, it would have to come out sometime, and if he lied now, he would surely face much more anger and hostility later.

“It is,” he finally answered. “But I can explain!”

“How?! Matt, this doesn’t make sense. I know you’re fit and all but… but you’re blind!”

Matt sighed.

“It’s a long story. I can tell it to you, if you want.”

Karen thought for a moment.

“I...No, no. It’s not possible. This has to be a joke. I’m going to go get Foggy and clear this all up and we can laugh about it later.”

Karen walked off, taking the suit with her. Matt followed behind, listening to Karen’s words. He heard her ask Foggy about the suit. There was a silence. The serious look on Foggy’s face told Karen all she needed to know.

Moments later, she walked out, slamming the door behind her.

00

Karen didn’t come back that night. Nor did she come back the day after. She didn’t show up for work on Monday, either. That was when Foggy and Matt started to worry.

“I’m sure she’s around. She’s probably at her apartment and wants time to herself,” Foggy tried to reassure Matt.

“I’ll go check,” Matt replied. “It’s a slow day anyway.”

“No, don’t!” Foggy stopped him. “If she’s as upset as I think she is she won’t want to see you. Sorry to say that, but it’s honest. She probably doesn’t want to see either of us.”

Matt frowned.

“I tried calling her a few times. Her phone is off. It goes to voicemail every time.”

“Like I said, she wants space.”

“I can go over tonight. Listen for her. I wouldn’t even have to knock on her door.”

“And if she just happens to notice you? I know you’re fast and all but if she catches you she’ll be pissed. Probably freaked out, too. How about this - I’ll call up Janice McBride and see if she could stop by and knock on Karen’s door, maybe pretend that she’s selling something.”

“Janice McBride from college? That chick you dated after the girl you learned Punjabi for? You still talk to her?”

“I still talk to a lot of people. I have other friends besides you, you know.”

“You keep them hidden pretty well.”

“Yeah, I guess so. Anyway, she’ll probably do it. She still has a thing for me, I think.”

Matt didn’t like it, but agreed.

00

“She wasn’t there.”

Foggy had cornered Matt minutes after he had walked in.

“Janice went there last night, knocked. No answer. She waited a few minutes, knocked again. She said the lights were out.”

“Fuck,” Matt mumbled, under his breath. “What if she tells someone? Or even worse… what if she’s… gone?”

“Forever?”

“...Yeah.” Just thinking of that possibility made Matt feel sick.

Foggy sat down across from Matt.

“I don’t think she’s gone forever, but…” He trailed off, unsure of whether or not he should tell Matt the rest of what Janice had learned.

“But what, Foggy?”

Foggy sighed.

“Janice talked to one of her neighbors. Some little old Polish woman. Janice told her that she was a friend of Karen’s and was worried about her, and the neighbor told her that Karen hadn’t been home since Saturday night. Janice pressed her for more info but the only thing that the neighbor knew was that Karen had taken a trip somewhere out of state.”

“She’s not even in New York.”

“I’m afraid not. But that doesn’t mean that she won’t come back!”

Matt rested his head in his hands.

“This is my fault. I should’ve been up front with her, or at least hidden the box better. I didn’t think she would find it. Why was she snooping through there, anyway?”

“I think she was trying to find your winter clothes. She was cleaning out your closet so you wouldn’t have to do it.”

“I wasn’t even paying attention...I was too caught up in… Fuck.”

“Matt. Listen to me.”

Matt stayed quiet, waiting for Foggy to speak.

“Karen will come back. She just needs time. Worst case I can do a more detailed background check, get her parent’s phone numbers or something.”

“I guess so.”

“It will be okay.”

Matt sat there silently, wishing that he could believe it.

00

Because of Matt’s preoccupation with Karen’s whereabouts, very little work seemed to get done. Not that it mattered. They hadn’t had many cases recently. Foggy tried to analyze why Matt was so upset. He supposed that Karen could tell, and things could get messy, but he doubted that she would, and if Matt had any brains at all, he would think the same. More than likely, Matt missed his friend and caretaker.

To Matt, it was probably like losing a parent. On the days when Foggy had to work, Karen had been the one to stay with Matty and take care of him. She’d also been the one who had prepared most of Matty’s meals and done the shopping and cleaning. She balanced out the dynamic between them, being the calmer one in general.

Foggy walked out of his office and noted that the coffee hadn’t been touched, nor had the bagels that he had brought in for breakfast. It looked like Matt was still holed up in his office, probably sulking or worrying. A quick peek through the glass window on Matt’s door verified this. So, Foggy decided to close the office and take Matt home. They could have Matty Time, just the two of them. It wasn’t like much was going to get done at work anyway.

00

Matt had quickly fallen back into his Matty routine once he’d arrived home. He didn’t need prompting to change into more comfortable clothes. He did it on his own, appearing in jeans and a baggy t-shirt moments after entering the apartment.

“That was fast,” Foggy remarked. He noticed that Matty was holding Simon to his chest, clutching the doll as if his life depended on it.

“I see you’ve got Simon. Would you two like it if I put on a dvd? Or I can read to you. We can have pizza tonight, too.”

Matty shrugged, then slowly made his way over to the couch.

Foggy sat down with him. He wasn’t surprised when Matty almost instantly latched on to him, resting his head on Foggy’s shoulder.

“Yeah, I know,” Foggy told him. “I miss Karen too.”

00

Foggy figured out how to divert calls to the office to his cell phone and decided to keep the firm closed for the rest of the week. He had taken Matty back to his own apartment and had allowed him (and Simon) to help him pick out clothes to pack.

Matty seemed to let Simon do most of the work, telling Foggy things like “Simon likes this shirt best” or “Simon says those jeans are ugly”. Foggy wasn’t sure whether he should think it was cute, or if he should be worried that Matty was now communicating using the stuffed animal.

During the walk back to Matt’s apartment, a few people stared. Seeing a grown, blind man carrying a stuffed animal was somewhat strange, even for New York. One person - an old woman - seemed to take pity on him and had asked Foggy if he needed any help. She suggested a facility that had a good program for “people with special needs”. She meant well, so Foggy had held off on shouting ‘he’s not retarded’, but he quickly hurried Matty along.

When they finally returned, Foggy locked the door behind them. Matty was already sitting on the couch, talking to Simon again. Foggy said a silent prayer that Karen would return soon.

00

For the next few days Foggy tried his absolute hardest to lift Matty out of the depression that he seemed to be in. He’d let Matty sleep in late, then had taken him out for breakfast or lunch (whichever mealtime was closer). The weather was still nice, so they would go to Central Park and walk around or walk through the farmer’s market in Union Square. Foggy took Matty to every street festival that he could find, hoping that Matty might enjoy some of the music that was played by the live bands there or that he might like some of the different ethnic foods that were being sold.

If they didn’t fill up on street fair food, they went out for dinner. Foggy took Matty to some different places - places that served food that they wouldn’t normally get to eat. Matty had gotten to try Ethiopian food, Cuban food and Indian food at three different restaurants. When they were done eating, Foggy would guide Matty back to the apartment and they would put on dvds or Foggy would read him a book.

It seemed like Foggy did most of the talking lately. Matty would acknowledge him, or answer if he asked a question, but nothing seemed to excite him. Every night ended the same: Foggy would give Matty a bath, change him and tuck him into bed. Matty would snuggle up next to him and ask him to read Simon a story. Usually by the end of it, Matty was asleep. The first night, Matty had one nightmare. Foggy had rushed in and held him for an hour before he fell asleep again. The second night, he had two. The third night, Foggy didn’t even bother leaving the room.

By Saturday Foggy’s wallet was empty and he felt completely drained. He began resigning himself to the fact that Matty might not be okay until Karen returned.

00

Ten days after she had departed, Karen arrived back home. She’d used her savings to plan a trip out of the country. She’d ended up in Japan, of all places. It was different there. She didn’t speak the language, but Tokyo was fascinating. It wasn’t long before she got the general gist of how life worked there.

The best part of it was that it distracted her from the thought of Matt, and his secret identity.

She understood what he was doing, and why he did it, and now that she knew about it, the whole age-play thing made a little more sense. Still, she feared that one day she and Foggy would be called to come identify his body, just like they’d done for Elena. The thought that Matt - her Matty - could end up like that…

It hurt her. Deeply.

She needed time to relax. Get her thoughts straightened out. A week and a half in Tokyo had done the trick.

00

Karen had not expected Matt and Foggy to keep her as an employee. She had taken time off without clearing it, after all. So it was a pleasant surprise when she found that her paycheck had been deposited in her account despite her not having worked a single minute.

With that in mind, she returned to the office the following Monday, jet-lagged but ready to work as hard as she had to.

She was taken aback when she saw that the lights in the office were off. The door was locked. She knew that Matty and Foggy could come in late sometimes, but it looked like no one had been in there for a while.

Concerned, she turned on her cellphone and decided to call Foggy. She had turned it off the night that she had stormed out of Matt’s apartment and hadn’t turned it on since. She was instantly greeted by the beeping sound of several missed text messages and calls.

A few had come from her neighbors, but most had come from Foggy.

She started at the beginning. At first the messages had an annoyed tone.

“I see that you’re not at work today…”

As time went on, they got more desperate.

“Look, Matt’s sorry for not telling you. He’s really upset. Please call me when you get this.”

The last one hurt her heart.

“Matty keeps having nightmares. I can’t cheer him up. I’ve tried to so hard. He misses you so much. Please come back, if not for me then for him.”

Having read that, Karen turned around, left the office and headed towards Matt’s.

00

“Holy crap.”

Karen was standing in the doorway of Matt's apartment. Clothes were strewn everywhere as were opened take out and pizza boxes. There seemed to be garbage piling up in the kitchen and she could smell the distinct scent of rotting food.

“Karen?”

It was Foggy. He wandered out of the bedroom looking… well, awful. He was wearing a pair of New York Yankees shorts and a baggy t-shirt that had stains on it. He looked paler than usual and his long hair was strewn about, not to mention the beard he seemed to be growing.

“Holy crap,” Karen repeated. “You look terrible.”

Foggy glared at her but shrugged it off.

“Yeah, well, it’s been a difficult few weeks.”

“Clearly. I, uh… got your messages. To be honest I didn’t think you guys would be that bad off but…” she surveyed the apartment again. “...I was obviously wrong. Where’s Matty?”

“Bedroom. He’s not feeling well.”

Karen nodded and headed in, feeling almost afraid of what she might find.

Matty was in bed. He was curled up, hugging Simon and looking pretty sick. Karen turned when she heard Foggy entered the room behind her.

She sat on the edge of the bed and gently ran a hand over Matty’s side, causing him to wake up.

“K-Karen?!”

Matty quickly sat up in bed and took hold of Karen’s hand.

“You came back!”

“Yes, I did.”

“I missed you! Simon missed you! Foggy did, too.”

“So I’ve been told. I… uh. I missed you guys too.”

Hearing that, Matty wrapped his arms around Karen’s waist and hugged her.

“Oof. Oh, okay, Matty, thank you,” she tried to pry him off, “I really really appreciate you being so affectionate and missing me but my God you need a bath. What are you sick with, anyway? Did you get the flu again?” She looked at Foggy, hoping for an answer.

“I have no idea what’s wrong with him. He doesn’t really get out of bed anymore. He’s not sneezing or coughing, no fever… I thought maybe he was depressed.”

“Hm.” She looked Matty over. Like Foggy, he was worse for the wear, his hair splayed in all directions and his skin palid. He looked like he had been sweating recently and he smelled like it too.

“Did you feed him anything weird recently?” She wondered if Foggy might have accidently given Matty food poisoning. The man could not cook for shit, that much she knew for a fact.

“No way! For the past week all we’ve eaten is pizza and McDonalds and chinese food from that place down the block!” Foggy defended himself.

Then it clicked into place.

“Foggy, you’re an idiot.”

“Hey, I did nothing wrong here!”

“You gave him nothing but pizza and chinese food and fast food for a week and you wonder why he feels terrible? Remind me to remind you to never have kids,” she said, somewhat playfully.

“We like lived off of that stuff in college!”

“And now you’re in your early thirties. Your body - especially his body isn’t going to handle it that well. Matty’s in great shape, I doubt he’s used to this type of thing. Sitting around in filth doesn’t help much either.”

Foggy blushed.

“Haven’t really had time to do laundry.”

Karen shook her head.

“Yeah, okay. How about I give him a bath and you start cleaning up. After that I’ll go to the store and get us some decent healthy food for dinner.” She turned to Matty, and placed a hand on his shoulder. “That okay by you, Matty?”

“Mhm.” He seemed excited and quickly got out of bed to follow Karen to the bathroom.

Just before he undressed, he held Simon up to his ear.

“Simon wants to know if you’re going to leave again,” he told her. “He’s very worried.”

The sad look on Matty’s face hurt Karen more than anything else. She placed a kiss on his forehead.

“Tell Simon that I’m not going anywhere. I’m back for good.”

“Promise?” Matty asked.

“I promise.”


	12. Simon Goes AWOL

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An emergency is declared when Simon goes missing.

Zen.

Karen was sure that this was what zen felt like.

Foggy and Matt had given her a gift certificate to a renowned spa for her birthday, and she had just gotten the best massage of her life, followed by a manicure and pedicure.

When she stepped out into the sunshine and was instantly able to hail a cab, she began wondering if perhaps God, or whatever was up there, was on her side that day.

Then her cell phone buzzed. She’d gotten a text message.

“Please come to Matt’s when you are done. We are having an emergency.”

The time stamp indicated that Foggy had sent it while she’d been at the spa, with her phone off. About an hour and a half had passed since then.

Karen began to feel concerned. What type of emergency was happening? Did Matt get himself injured while fighting the previous evening? Was he sick again? Did they have to take Matt to a hospital?

‘Stay calm’, she told herself. From what she remembered, Foggy had mentioned that he would be staying over at Matt’s apartment the previous evening. They were going to have Matty Time and a ‘guy’s night’, meaning just the two of them. So, logically, Matt probably wouldn’t have been out patrolling the neighborhood if he were age-playing with Foggy.

Still, that didn’t discount the possibility that Matty had gotten sick. He did that a lot, it seemed. For such a strong man he had an awful immune system.

Frowning, she called Foggy’s cell. It rang several times before going to voicemail.

‘Shit,’ she mumbled, putting the phone away.

00

Karen arrived at Matt’s building fifteen minutes later. She paid the cabbie and ran up to Matt’s apartment. She frantically knocked on the door.

“Foggy? Matty? Are you in there?” She called out, nervously.

No response.

“Fuck!” She said aloud, before knocking again. “Foggy! Matty! Open the door!”

Finally the door swung open and Foggy appeared. Matty was at his side, eyes red and puffy.

“What’s the emergency?! What happened? I tried to call you, Foggy, but you didn't answer." She then turned her attention to Matty. "Are you okay? Did you get hurt?” She walked in and began examining him as best she could. “Did you fall?”

“No,” Matty answered, backing away from her. “I’m not hurt.”

“Sick, then? What’s wrong?”

Matty’s eyes began to water again.

“Simon’s gone!”

Karen opened her mouth to reply, but no words came out. Her shoulders slumped.

“Seriously?” She asked Foggy.

"Sorry," he said, sheepishly. "And sorry for missing your call. I was on a rescue mission."

Karen shook her head in response.

00

Karen wanted to be angry. She really, really wanted to be angry. Foggy had said ‘emergency’, meaning ‘something horrible has happened and we need help’. Losing Simon was not an emergency, at least not by her definition. Matty looked so upset, though, that she found herself feeling bad for him. She shrugged off her coat and began to participate in the search and rescue mission.

“Okay,” she said, placing a hand on Matty’s shoulder. “When and was the last time you had Simon?”

“Last night, when me and Foggy went to sleep,” Matty replied, sniffling. Karen grabbed a tissue from her purse and handed it to him.

“Blow your nose,” she instructed.

Matty did as he was told then wiped his eyes.

“We searched everywhere,” he continued. “But we can’t find him. He’s probably gone forever.”

“No, I’m sure he’s somewhere. Now that I’m here I’ll help find him.” She tried to sound encouraging. Matty just nodded.

“I assume that you searched the bedroom?” Karen asked Foggy.

“From top to bottom. You can go look if you’d like, though. Maybe I missed something.”

“I will. Matty, do you want to come?”

“Mhm.”

Karen held out her hand and Matty took it, following her to the bedroom.

“Alright,” she muttered, looking around. She checked the closet, and the bed itself. Then she checked under the bed. Nothing.

Her next step was to search the dresser. Nothing there, either.

Matty could hear her walking around.

“He’s not here, is he?”

“I don’t think so. Are you sure that you didn’t have him this morning when you woke up?”

“I’m sure.” Matty looked like he was about to cry again.

“Shh,” she helped him to his feet. “Let’s retrace your steps anyway, okay? I’m sure that he’s somewhere in here.”

“O-okay. After I woke up I went to the bathroom.”

“Great.” Karen headed in that direction, Matty following behind.

Another thorough search revealed nothing.

“After you went to the bathroom, where did you go?”

“The living room. Foggy made me breakfast and we ate there.”

To the living room they went. She and Foggy took half of the room each, opening the closet and overturning every cushion on the couch before switching sides to double check the other’s search area.

Somehow, Simon was still nowhere to be found. Karen was starting to get nervous. She wondered how long Matty would be upset for if Simon was officially gone.

00

The last room to search was the kitchen. Foggy had apparently searched it already. Karen felt that Simon probably wasn’t in it, but she double checked anyway.

It wasn’t long before she opened up a cabinet and found what she was looking for. Smiling, she marched back out to the living room.

“Matty, I found Simon.”

Matty jumped up from the couch.

“Where?! Can I have him?!”

Karen handed the stuffed animal over.

“In the kitchen. In a cabinet, of all places. Any idea about how he got there?”

Matty was hugging Simon tightly to his chest and scolding him for disappearing, but stopped talking when he heard Karen’s question.

“Um. Well. I think I know.”

“Spill it.”

Matty blushed.

“I didn’t remember it until now so please don’t be mad.”

Karen sighed.

“I’m not going to be mad.”

“Foggy?”

“I won’t be angry either, Matty. Tell us how Simon ended up in the cabinet.”

“I woke up last night, really late. You were sleeping, and I wanted more water, so I went to the kitchen to get some. But I was really tired. I think I put Simon in the cabinet then. I don’t really remember, but it makes sense.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“Please don’t be mad,” Matty asked again.

“I’m not mad, Matty. It’s okay.”

“Yeah. It’s alright. We found him, so now you can relax,” Foggy added.

“Thank you!” Matty ran off to the couch again, then restarted his conversation with Simon.

Now alone with Foggy, Karen turned to him.

“Foggy. You and I need to have a little conversation.”

“Do we?”

“We do. About what the word ‘emergency’ means.”

Foggy couldn’t help but groan at the thought of the lecture that he was sure to receive.


	13. The Anniversary

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is the anniversary of Matt's father's death. Foggy helps him cope.

Some cases were more draining than others. This was well known to Foggy and Matt and they’d learned to manage the stress of the bad ones. The one that was being outlined in court today was one of those. It involved an elderly woman who had been abused by a home-care nurse that her son had hired. The woman had eventually died of her injuries, but she had suffered for quite a while prior.

Matt and Foggy had sued the nurse’s employer at the son’s request. They had solid evidence of abuse, but in the end, the employer was let off.

Of course, Matt and Foggy were upset, but the date that day made it even worse for Matt.

It was the anniversary of his father’s death. All day in court he had held back his emotions for the most part, aiming to remain as professional as possible. The few times that he allowed them to slip through were when he was displaying evidence and when speaking to the jury before they were sequestered. But that had not been enough. Foggy had noticed it - that Matt was hurting more so than usual. He knew his friend well, and he wasn’t surprised when Matt discreetly asked if they could have Matty Time that evening.

00

Foggy had, of course, agreed to Matt’s request. He hadn’t invited Karen. The issue at hand was too personal. Too deep. Karen was one of their best friends, but Foggy knew about Matt’s annual struggle to keep his composure better than anyone else. He felt that Matty would only express all of his feelings if they were alone.

He had walked Matty home after the court case. Matty had been quiet the whole time, walking slowly, seemingly entranced in his thoughts. Things only changed when they got to his apartment.

Usually Matty was fairly self sufficient. For instance, he could dress himself.

Now, though, he wanted assistance. He took Foggy’s hand, led him to the bedroom, pointed to the dresser and said “help”.

“Okay,” Foggy agreed. He chose a simple outfit - baggy jeans and a long sleeved shirt along with fuzzy socks. He laid it out on the bed.

Before helping with the clothes, he put a diaper on Matty. Matty didn’t argue. He didn’t help, either. He laid there and let Foggy manipulate him, making the task much harder than it usually was.

Foggy didn’t complain, though he was somewhat surprised by how apathetic Matty seemed.

Eventually, Foggy began to realize that it wasn’t apathy that Matty was displaying. It was regression. Foggy hadn’t thought that it would happen, but he supposed that it made sense. On this, one of the most depressing days of the year, Matty wanted total support. He wanted to know that someone was there to help him for whatever he needed.

Foggy could help with that. He did help with it.

When dinnertime came around, Matty insisted on being fed.

Well, he actually refused to touch his food until Foggy offered to help him. Slowly, Foggy fed Matty spaghetti with tomato sauce, neither saying a word until the meal was over. Foggy didn’t say anything about Matty’s choice in beverage containers, either. He’d gotten hold of a green sippy cup that Karen had purchased when their age-play began, when they weren’t sure what mental age Matty would settle on.

In between bites, Matty would take tiny sips of iced tea from the cup, holding it out to Foggy when he was finished.

00

After dinner, Foggy placed the plates in the sink and led Matty over to the couch. He was about to offer to read him a story when he noticed the look on Matty’s face.

Foggy wasn’t sure what to say. He finally settled on ‘come here’ and pulled Matty close to him.

Physical contact was what Matty needed, apparently. Seconds after feeling Foggy’s arms around him, Matty embraced Foggy back. Then the tears began.

Foggy held him and rubbed his back, feeling horrible that he could do nothing more to help ease his friend’s suffering. Occasionally he whispered to Matty. Things like “cry as much as you need to” or “I know you miss him”.

00

Matty cried for nearly a full hour. He seemed weak when he finally stopped. Tired and drained.

Foggy took some tissues and wiped Matty’s face and nose. When he was done, he helped Matty to his feet.

“Why don’t we go to bed,” he suggested.

Matty nodded in agreement and followed Foggy back to the bedroom.

Foggy changed Matty again and helped him into his pajamas then got into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt himself. A glance at his watch told him that it was early - seven o’clock - but that was okay. Matty would probably feel better after he rested. Maybe tomorrow, they could talk about his feelings.

Once in bed, Matty snuggled up next to him. Foggy played with Matty’s hair until he fell asleep.


	14. Fairy Tale of New York

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Foggy, Karen and Matty move into a larger apartment together. They celebrate Christmas, and Matty helps Karen bake cookies for Santa.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I loved writing this story. I hope you enjoyed reading it :)

After nearly a year of their age play routine with Matty, Karen and Foggy began to realize that they were a good fit as a couple.

Their relationship started simply. One night, after Matty had been tucked in, Foggy snuck back out to watch some television with Karen. They’d ended up quietly making jokes about the movie they were watching. Then Karen had gotten some wine. They finished off the bottle while talking amongst themselves. It was like one of their first dates, way back when they had first met, except after it neither retired to their apartments.

They had a few more nights like that. Somehow, Matty had never found out. Matty did seem to realize that Foggy and Karen were getting closer, though. He had noticed them sitting near each other and smiling. Sometimes Karen would rest her hand on top of Foggy’s. She never used to touch him like that before. And then, one day, when Foggy was heading out the door, Karen gave him a kiss goodbye.

Matty was okay with it. The relationship didn’t bother him like Karen’s relationship with Jake did. Perhaps it was because Foggy and Karen’s relationship seemed much more natural. The fact that they were both often around helped, too. Karen going out with Jake all the time was one of the things that had irked Matty. He liked having both Karen and Foggy nearby, even if they were touching each other all the time.

It was almost like having a normal family consisting of two parents and a child. Well, normal might not be the right word, but Matty liked the idea of having a somewhat official family dynamic.

00

Six months after they had started dating, Foggy and Karen broached the idea of moving into a larger apartment. One with two bedrooms, so that they could have their own room and Matt/Matty could have his.

Matt agreed to it. Foggy and Karen knew his secret, and they were at his apartment most days anyway, now. His only requirement was that they stay in Hell’s Kitchen.

This did not surprise Karen or Foggy. They knew Matt would never leave the place where he was born and raised.

They ended settling on a place located only a block from Matt’s original apartment. Besides having two bedrooms, it had a larger kitchen, a dining room and a living room, along with a large bathroom. And, there was no giant neon sign right outside. Foggy and Karen had seemed very happy about that.

So, they’d signed the lease. Matt and Foggy agreed to pay the rent and utilities; Karen would be responsible for food and things like cable and internet.

A week later, they moved in.

00

Time passed. Karen tended to be the one who decorated the apartment, though Foggy helped a little. It was cozy, now. White icicle Christmas lights lit up the living room all year round, giving it a warm glow. Some photos of the neighborhood taken by a local artist hung on the wall and there was usually a scented candle burning to make the place smell nice.

It was a comfortable existence. Matt was still his adult self most days, but they age played more often now that they were living together. Foggy and Karen had even modified the rooms to fit the needs associated with this: They’d bought a California king sized bed so that there was more than enough room if Matty had a nightmare and wanted to join them. They’d also set up a corner where Matty’s books and toys were, so that the rest of the apartment could be kept neat.

Of course, some times were harder than others and even living together didn’t make things easier. When Fisk went on trial, Karen and Matt managed to get seats in the courthouse. Foggy watched it unfold on the news. All of them stressed over it only to have the jury come back undecided, no doubt the outcome of Fisk’s influence. He still had sway with much of the police force, and it wouldn’t have surprised anyone if he’d somehow managed to pay off some of the jury members.

Another trial date was set for a few months and Fisk was sent back to jail.

00

Now it was Christmas. Their first Christmas in the new apartment, to be precise.

Foggy and Matt decided to close the office and take off the week between Christmas and New Years. They needed a rest after the large caseload they’d been dealing with, anyhow.

After locking up the office the three of them had gone to get a Christmas tree. There was a lot that sold them nearby. Matt couldn’t help much insofar as picking it out went, but he enjoyed the smell of pine needles once it was set up at home.

They’d all agreed that they’d try to make the week as low-stress as possible. That meant that they would be having Matty Time.

On Christmas Eve, Karen made a nice dinner of turkey and various side dishes and a dessert of pie and ice cream. After they ate, Foggy cleared the table and put the radio on. There was a station that played only Christmas carols, twenty four hours a day.

As “Silent Night” began to play, they began to decorate the tree. Foggy guided Matty’s hand to branches and helped him with the ornaments.

The tree ended up being a combination of old and new. Foggy had contributed ornaments that he’d gotten from his family, and the three of them had purchased some more. A shiny gold star rested on top of it. The only thing missing was presents.

Matty, who was now dressed in his blue snowflake-patterned pajamas, felt around for a few minutes in an attempt to figure out where the gifts were, but he came up empty handed.

“No presents?” He asked, sadly.

Foggy smiled.

“You’re being silly, Matty. Santa will bring the gifts after we go to sleep!”

Matty frowned.

“But… how’s he gonna get in? There’s no chimney here.”

“Oh, I took care of that,” Karen spoke up. She grabbed an oversized fake key that was hung by a ribbon on the doorknob and handed it to Matty. “I’m leaving this out for him.”

Matty felt it for a moment then grinned.

“You’re so smart, Karen! Now he’ll definitely get in!”

Karen ruffled Matty’s hair.

“Yes. We had to be sure that he could. Wouldn't want you to miss out on Christmas morning!”

With that comment, Matty’s grin faltered.

“Do you think…” He started, softly. “Do you think he’ll be angry at me? Only good kids get presents.”

“Why would he be mad at you?” Karen asked.

“Because I lied to you.” Matty looked like he wanted to cry.

“Oh, Matty. He knows that I forgave you, and that was such a long time ago, anyway! You’re a good boy and I’m sure that Santa knows it.”

Karen’s response seemed to satisfy Matty.

“But you know what would make Santa like us even more?” She continued.

“No?”

“If we made some homemade cookies for him. He loves cookies and milk, remember?”

“Oh, yeah!” Matty replied. “Can we make some?”

“Definitely. I’ve already got everything we need.” Karen wrapped an arm around Matty’s shoulders, “Why don’t you come in the kitchen and help me out?”

Matty excitedly nodded in agreement.

00

Over the course of the next hour, Matty and Karen worked to make a large batch of chocolate chip cookies. Karen did the measuring and Matty did the mixing. He was surprisingly neat with it, barely getting any flour on himself or the counter.  
When the mixing was done, Karen showed Matty how to gather the correct amount of cookie dough and round it into balls. They laid it all out on two big cookie pans and placed them in the oven. Then, Karen began to clean up.

“That was fun,” Matty commented, before yawning.

“It was. Thank you for helping me.”

Matty nodded and yawned again. Karen checked the time.

“It’s nine o’clock. Why don’t you let Foggy give you a bath and get you changed, then you can help me put the cookies out before you go to bed?”

“Okay,” Matty answered. He wandered back into the living room, where Foggy was sitting, watching A Christmas Story on television.

“Matty!” Foggy greeted him. “How did your cookie baking go? Did you and Karen make some awesome treats?”

“I hope so.”

“Well, I’m sure they’re great. Santa will love them.”

“Karen said you should give me a bath and then we can put the cookies out for Santa.”

“Did she now?”

“Mhmm.” Matty wanted to yawn yet again, but resisted.

“Alrighty then.” Foggy pushed himself up, “Let’s get to it.”

00

By midnight, Matty was in bed, fast asleep. He’d been worn out from a day of decorating and non-stop eating. Foggy and Karen were finally alone. They took the presents that they’d bought out of their bedroom closet and placed them under the tree. Then Foggy turned to the plate of cookies and the glass of milk that Matty had left out. He picked a cookie up and took a bite.

“Mmm. These are awesome, Karen!”

“Hey, those are for Santa!”

Foggy took another bite as Karen glared at him. It was an act, though.

“Don’t give me that look,” Foggy told her. “We both gotta do our part to make it seem like Santa came. He’d eat those cookies, that’s for sure.” Foggy finished off the cookie and picked up another one.

After munching on most of them (and leaving a small piece of cookie and some crumbs on the plate), something caught Foggy’s eye.

“Hey, Karen.”

Karen looked at him.

“Yes?”

“Look.” He pointed out the window. It was snowing out. In the glow of the streetlights, the snowflakes looked beautiful, falling delicately to the ground.

Karen took a deep breath and enjoyed the feeling of warmth and happiness in her heart. She walked over to Foggy. He put his arm around her waist, and the two silently watched the snow fall.


End file.
